Conspiracy I: The Experiment
by Tempered-Dreamz
Summary: (Previously titled 'Fearless) The government's top-secret experiment escapes and is rescued by the turtles. But soon she is captured by Shredder and later by the government. What will the turtles do especially when one of them falls for her? A RE-WRITE OF
1. Escape

**Conspiracy I: The Experiment  
**(Previously titled 'Fearless')

_The government's top-secret experiment escapes and is rescued by the turtles. But soon she is captured by Shredder and later by the government. What will the turtles do especially when one of them falls for her? A RE-WRITE of the original._

Author's Note: Ok I am writing a sequel to this story but before I put that story up. I decided to fix all my mistakes with this story, add in more detail to make it more interesting (I hope), and change the title to better fit with the story. As soon as I have the updated version of this story out, I will start putting up the sequel, **Conspiracy II: The Aftermath**. And as you all know that I don't own the tmnt!

* * *

**Ch.1 - Escape**

Freedom. That was the only thing on her mind as she ran towards the 10ft barbed wire fence away from everything that she knew. Away from all the scientists who injected her with all those chemicals and made her do all those tests. Never again would she be used as someone's lab rat. She would get away this time. She didn't care if she made it out alive or not as long as she escaped.

She was almost to the fence when she felt a sharp pain in her right thigh. She fell and landed in a huge puddle of mud. Glancing over her shoulder as she got up she saw some security guards running after her with guns. Then she realized that they'd had probably shot her. A mere gunshot wound was not going to keep her from her goal. So she got up and started running again, this time with a slight limp as she fought the pain in her leg.

At last she made it to the fence that had been built to keep her in. It was a 10ft tall barbed wire fence that encircled the whole building complex with only one opening at the front. This was heavily guarded all the time just so she couldn't escape. Though they never figured she'd actually try to climb over the fence.

However she did and made it. But now she had bad cuts all over from the fence. She knew that just because she'd made it past the fence it didn't mean that she was safe so she kept on running.

She ran down many alleys and streets only looking behind her a few times to see that the guards chasing her were starting to catch up to her. Thanks to the gunshot wound in her leg. She ducked behind another alley where she noticed a manhole cover. Realizing that they would eventually catch up to her if she kept running, she lifted the manhole cover off and climbed down into the sewers, replacing the cover back to cover up her tracks. She ran or heavily limped at this point down the sewers, not really caring where she ended up. At last the pain in her leg grew too strong and she collapsed.

* * *

_Whhrrreee-whhrreee! _The sound of an alarm going off echoed through the halls of the building complex. Inside the monitoring room, a bald middle-aged man looked frantically at the screen while shouting at the people responsible for watching the monitors. 

"How could you people let her escape! Do you have any ideas what this means!" He yelled.

"We're sorry sir, if we had any idea that she'd be able to find the cameras so quickly—"

"Well she did and because you all just had to take a coffee break at the moment, you gave her more time to get away! You better hope that Lt. Nitwite and his team are successful at recovering her or else," He said through his teeth while just inches away from the younger man's face.

* * *

"I still don't get why we have to practice so hard everyday" A mutant turtle with a red bandana said. The turtle in blue, who had been doing some martial arts moves, stopped and turned to face the red one, and said, "A true ninja is always prepared" 

"I am prepared! Shredder's dead and the foot are gone! It's been that way for 3 years now" The red one yelled back at the blue.

"You won't be prepared if you don't practice, Raph" The turtle in blue sharply said as he was getting quite annoyed with his hot-head brother.

"That doesn't mean we gotta overdo ourselves, Leo" Raph shouted at the turtle in blue.

During this whole fight the other two turtles, one in orange and another in purple, just stood there watching the other two while trying to stay out of the way. Although they were prepared in case a fight broke out between the two eldest brothers.

"We have to be prepared for anything. You don't know what new enemy could rise" Leo angrily said at Raph while glaring at him.

"Fine! You go practice to your heart's content! I'm outta here" Raph yelled as he grabbed his trench coat and hat and left before his older brother could get in another word.

* * *

_I know us ninjas have to be prepared but Leo's going about it all wrong. The way he makes us practice, if a new enemy did come, we'd be too tired to fight! All I'm saying is that he tone down the intensity a bit. And of course he refuses to accept the idea that I may be right! Maybe when Splinter gets back tonight from his vacation in Japan, he'll set Leo straight._

Had the turtle not been so engrossed in his own thoughts, he would've noticed the young female lying in the sewers before he tripped over her.

"Geez! What the hell" He yelled as he quickly got up and looked to see what he had tripped over.

"What's she doing down here" He asked himself as he saw that he had tripped over a young female probably in her twenties or so. She had golden brown hair which was tangled up and went past her shoulders a bit. She had on a pair of blue scrubs and she was pretty dirty and bloodied up. Knowing that she needed help he picked up and made his way back to the lair. It was when he picked her up that he noticed that she'd been shot.

"Who the hell would shot a girl who obviously just came from the hospital" Raph muttered to himself since he assumed that she probably had just been released from a hospital when she ran into some trouble and got trouble. Little did he know that his theory couldn't be farther from the actual truth.


	2. Rescue

Author's Note: Remember I don't own the turtles, splinter, April or Casey! But I do own the girl and this story idea!

**Ch.2 - Rescue**

After Raph's departure, Leo headed for the dojo without saying a word to Donnie (the turtle in purple) or Mikey (the turtle in orange). Donnie retreated to his room where he got on his computer whereas Mikey was watching the TV. It had barely even been 15 min since Raph had left when he climbed down the ladder into the lair.

"Gee Raph thought you wouldn't be home for hou-" Mikey started to say but then stopped when he noticed the injured female in his arms.

"Quit staring and go get Donnie" Raph said as he laid the girl on the couch on her side so that the gunshot wound was facing out. A few seconds later Donnie and Mikey came out. Mikey stood off to the side alongside Raph both unsure of what to do now while Donnie went over to their guest and examined her.

"My god! What happened to her" Donnie exclaimed as he was looking at her wounds. All the commotion alerted Leo that something was going on in the living room so he decided to go investigate the cause of it. Walking into the room, he saw Raph and Mikey at the end of the couch looking over at Donnie who was studying their guest who was on the couch.

"Ok what's going" Leo had started to say but was interrupted when Donnie suddenly said"No time for questions, Leo. I've got to treat this gunshot wound. Raph lie her facedown on the table in the infirmary, Mikey go get some wet towels, and Leo get some soap and dry towels. I'll go wash my hands" Without question the three turtles did as they were told for they knew that their brother knew exactly how to tend to the girl's wounds.

Within minutes all four turtles were in the infirmary. Donnie laid a towel over her, which covered her from the lower back to just below her butt and then proceeded to get the surgical kit out while he instructed Leo to remove her pants so that he could operate on her leg to get the bullet out, and Mikey to clean the area around her leg. After that was done, Donnie made a little incision on her leg and used the tweezers to pull out a single bullet which he handed to Raph. Next he stitched up the wound and cleaned up the blood around the wound.

"So what do we do with that" Mikey asked while pointing at Raph's hand which still had the bullet in it.

"We could keep it and try to find out what type of gun was used to shoot her with. Might be able to help us learn who shot her and why" Donnie said.

"Ok so we'll hang on to the bullet for that reason. Is she going to make it" Leo asked Donnie who had now started to clean the dirt off her bare legs and feet. He looked up for just a second and replied"Yea, she'll make it. She won't be able to use her leg much, probably need crutches for a few weeks then she could probably walk with a crane for awhile. And maybe in a few months she could walk on her own again"

"How long will she be unconscious" Raph inquired after he had set the bullet down on the counter close to some of Donnie's papers.

"Hard to say really, hours, days, weeks even. Though I really doubt it. I'd say more like hours or a few days. Actually, it'll probably be more like hours than days. Why" Donnie answered as he had removed her shirt and started to clean the dirt off her back and arms. He then turned her over and started cleaning her front side. Leo felt embarrassed for the poor girl so he laid another towel over her to cover up her chest.

"Just wanted to know how long we'd have to wait to get some answers" The other three turtles all nodded their heads in agreement. They all wanted answers to the questions that they'd been pondering. _Who is she? What does she want? Who's after her? Why are they after her? Is she our new enemy? _They all stood quietly; except for Donnie who was still cleaning the girl up, watching their brother attend to their mysterious guest.

After she was all cleaned up, the brothers laid a few blankets on her to keep her warm. Leo decided that they should call April and have her bring down some clothes the young lady could wear and so she could help wash the girl's hair as it was pretty filthy. Donnie cleaned off the bullet and went off to his lab, which was in the same room as the infirmary, to find out what gun it came from. Mikey went back to the TV and Raph retreated to his room.

"Hey guys. What's going on" April asked as she came down the ladder with a bag of clothes in her hands. Leo, who had been pacing around the living room while waiting for her, came over to her and took the bag of clothes from her and answered"Raph brought home a girl who got shot. He found her in the sewers" He then carried the bag of clothes to the room that Donnie and their guest was in.

"April brought her some clothes" He said as he set the bag down.

"Good" Donnie replied without even looking up from his research.

"Find anything yet" Leo asked as he looked over Donnie's shoulder to see him examining the bullet that he had put under a microscope.

"Nope, not yet"

"Oh. Let us know right away when you do find something. I have a feeling there's more to this girl than what meets the eye and I want to know exactly what we're dealing with" Leo stated as he left Donnie to his work.

"I'm getting a bad feeling about her," Raph stated as soon as Leo came back into the living room.

"Like what? I feel there's more to her than any of us can see, but that doesn't always mean its bad," Leo pointed out.

"I'm tellin' ya, whatever it is, it's not good,"

"Are you sure Raph?" April asked. Raph's instincts were usually right but he was also impulsive, so perhaps he was just jumping the gun a bit?

"I'm positive,"

"Maybe she's here to kill us all!" Mikey jokingly said.

"Maybe she is. And maybe I'll help her to you," Raph said as he glared at his younger brother.

"Mikey, I don't think she's here to kill us. I think that she is perhaps in some kind of trouble and in need of our help," Leo said.

"Oh brother," Raph said, rolling his eyes at his older brother.

"Maybe she's like an alien from outer space!" Mikey jokingly said. This earned him a smack on his bald head from his brother, Raph, and two pairs of rolling eyes from Leo and April. Leo was about to tell his younger brother to try to be serious for once, when a crash from the lab/infirmary brought them all running towards the noise.


	3. Unanswered Questions

Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own the turtles, April or Casey. However I do own Brianna and this story idea!

**Ch.3 - Unanswered Questions**

"Maybe she's like an alien from outer space" Mikey jokingly said. This earned him a smack on his bald head from his brother, Raph, and two pairs of rolling eyes from Leo and April. Leo was about to tell his younger brother to try to be serious for once, when a crash from the lab/infirmary brought them all running towards the noise. When they arrived they saw the girl huddled in a corner, using a thin sheet to cover herself with. She was trying to get as far away as possible from Donnie, who was standing in front of her trying to help her back to the bed. The eldest turtle was the first who spoke up, "Mind telling the rest of us what happened here?"

Donnie turned around to see his brothers and April staring at him and the girl. He replied, "She put too much weight on her leg and fell to the floor. When I went over to help her up she backed into the corner"

"I don't think she likes you that much" Mikey said with a laugh. Raph and April tried not to laugh too loud. This time Leo smacked his brother on the head and calmly said, "April, why don't you see if you can help her get into some clothes, while we go out and discuss what to do," After that the turtles all left April and the girl to themselves, and went out into the living room.

Even after they had left, the girl was still in the corner. April slowly made her way over, not wanting to frighten the poor girl; she bent down so that she was eye level and sweetly said, "Hey there, my name's April. Listen, I'm not gonna hurt you. I brought some clothes with me, that you can wear. Would you like to do that?" April held out her hand to the girl to show that she could be trusted. The girl slowly raised her head and whispered, "Yes,"

The girl had chosen to wear a pair of gray sweat pants and a white tank top. The pants were a little too big for her so she had to roll them over at the top, whereas the tank top fit fine with only a tad bit of stomach showing. She didn't have too much trouble getting dressed. She had only needed April to steady her while she put the pants on. For a few seconds neither one of them spoke. Finally April asked her, "You know my name's April, but I don't believe I caught your name, what is it?"

"Brianna," She replied.

"That's such a pretty name; did your mom give you that name?"

"No," _Dr. Madison, the only one who was ever kind to me there, named me. It's a shame that Captain Carter bastard found out and had her disposed of._

"Your father?"

"No. Please stop asking me so many questions,"

"Oh. I also brought some shampoo with me so we could wash your hair if you want"

"Yea, sure" April helped Brianna walk down to the bathroom to wash all the dirt out of her hair. Afterwards she gave Brianna a brush to brush her hair with. April was quite impressed with the little "makeover". Before Brianna had looked like just some homeless gal, but now with her shinning golden brown hair, sparkling green eyes, and toned figure, April wondered just what kind of trouble Brianna was in.

"April?"

"Yea?" April said when she had realized that she'd been staring.

"Nothing,"

"Do you know who shot you?" April hoped that she wouldn't scare her by asking that question but, she wanted to know what the turtles would be dealing with.

"Yes,"

"Who?"

"I'd rather not talk about it" Brianna stated rather coldly and folded her arms against her chest, as she leaned up against the wall.

"Oh well when you are..."

"I will,"

"Good. Now, do you remember the others who were in the room with me?"

"Yes,"

"Why don't I go introduce you to them? They're old friends of mine,"

"Are they scientists?"

"No. Well, maybe Donnie could pass for one. Not that he is. He's just very smart like a scientist,"

"Do they work for the government?"

"Nope, they aren't aware that they exist,"

Brianna unfolded her arms and let out a sigh of relief, "I'll go meet them as long as they're not scientists and aren't in league with the government,"

"They're not. I promise," April said as she took Brianna's hand and led her out into the living room where the guys were. She wondered just what it was that Brianna had against scientists and the government.

* * *

The turtles were all huddled together between the couch and the TV set. At first they didn't even notice that the girls had joined them until April cleared her throat. 

"Ahem. Guys," They all looked up to see April standing a few feet away from them, with her arms crossed and a look of annoyance on her face. Brianna was standing behind April, or rather leaning on the door frame of the hallway, as her leg was still very sore from earlier. Normally the turtles would've been asking Brianna how she was feeling but they were all so surprised at how beautiful she was, after only having her hair washed and brushed, that for a few seconds they didn't say anything.

"Uh, excuse me? Are you guys just gonna stare at her or what?" April asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice. Leo quickly averted his eyes from the strange girl to April and said, "Oh! Sorry!" The others all chimed in and said sorry too, after which Leo turned back to their guest who was still leaning on the door frame.

"Won't you come in, miss," He politely asked her. Brianna, who had been staring off into space, nodded her head at Leo's question. She then let go of the wall and started to limp towards the turtles. Mikey was the first one over to her side and attempted to help her over but she brushed him aside. And refused to let anyone help her walk the few steps it took, to get from the hallway to the middle of the living room. Much to Donnie's dismay who tried to tell the girl that she really shouldn't be walking so soon after her surgery. Raph was the first to speak to her when she had finally managed to walk over to them, "Just what kind of trouble are you in?"

For a split second, Brianna went as pale as a ghost, before she composed herself. This did not go unnoticed by Raph who again asked, "You ARE in some kind of trouble, now aren't you?"

"No. It's nothing," She calmly replied. _I wish it was nothing. Unfortunately, its not._

"Yes you are," Raph stated as he answered his own question, for the second time.

"No! I'm not!" She yelled back. This red bandana-wearing turtle was really starting to get on her nerves. If she hadn't been trying to hide what she is, she would've showed that turtle a thing or two.

"Dude, if you're in trouble just say so. We'll help ya out! Won't we?" Mikey said as he looked around at his older brothers. They all nodded in agreement which made Brianna feel a little better. But she still wouldn't admit that she was in trouble. _I know they'll think I'm some kind of freak if I tell them the truth. 'Course they'll probably used to that. Still, I can't risk dragging them into my life or I may just end up signing their death warrants. And I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me._

"I swear I am not in any trouble, ok?" Brianna firmly stated as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, as if to make a point. The others all sighed in defeat, knowing that she was indeed hiding something. But not wanting to pressure her any further, they let the subject go. Leo was the next one to start questioning the poor girl. Only he asked more politely then his hot-headed brother had done.

"Do you have any idea who may have shot you?" He asked her.

"Not really. Maybe whoever it was, missed their intended target and hit me instead," She suggested. There was no way she was going to tell them that she was indeed the intended target.

"Hmm. That could be it," Leo said as he pondered her suggestion. He didn't really buy it of course. He and the others all knew that there was something more going on then she would let on. However he did not want to give the girl any indication that he didn't believe her so Leo had decided to play along with her for now. _Better to gain her trust now then to make her angry and turn away from us._

"Look. I'd love to stay and answer all your questions but I'm getting tired so if you don't mind, I'll just go back and lie down," Brianna said while trying to act as if she really was tired. Truth is that she was wide awake. Only reason why she wanted them to think that she was was so that they'd leave her alone.

"I'll say. I wasn't excepting you to be awake for a few more days at least," Donnie stated. He truly had been surprised at the fact that after only a few short hours after he had performed surgery on her leg, she had fully woken up. Knowing that she shouldn't be putting any or very little weight on her leg he tried to help her walk back to the infirmary. This time, Brianna allowed him to help her.

"Wait! Donnie! There's still one very important question we gotta ask her," Mikey yelled as he ran after and stopped right in front of them.

"What would that be, Mikey?" Donnie asked impatiently. The sooner he got his patient to lay down the better. He really didn't have time to play these games with Mikey.

"What's your name?" Mikey sweetly asked the young female in front of him, totally ignoring his brother to the side of her.

"Brianna," She stated.

"Wow! That's a pretty name! See-ya dudette!" Mikey said as he ran back to the living room, leaving them behind. Donnie had to agree with his little brother. Brianna was indeed a beautiful name for someone as gorgeous as she was.

After he helped her into bed, he decided to go join the others. He wanted desperately to try to find out what type of gun the bullet had come from. But he didn't want to disturb her much needed rest, so he thought it best to go finish the discussion he and his brothers had started earlier.

* * *

Author's Note: I'll have more of the story up soon. I plan to get the rest of it up during the next two weeks. Hopefully just one week and then I can put up the sequel. ;) 


	4. Splinter Returns

Disclaimer: Once again the only thing I own is Brianna, all government/military personnel, and the story plot. Everything else belongs to Eastman and Laird.

**Ch.4 - Splinter Returns**

"Package for a Mr. Jones,"

"That's me, thank you," A man with shoulder-length brown hair, wearing an old, dirty, white tank top and blue jeans, answered. He took a medium-sized crate with air holes on it from the uniformed man and continued on to an alleyway in the back. Once there, he checked to see if anyone was around. There wasn't, so he opened the crate and a five-foot tall rat with an old tattered robe on stepped out.

"Thank you, Casey," The rat said to the man.

"No problem, Splinter," Casey replied. Casey then lifted a manhole cover to the sewer off, which Splinter went down. Casey soon followed after him.

* * *

"So Dr. Donnie, what's your diagnosis?" Mikey cheerfully asked his brother, when he saw him appear in the room. The purple bandanna turtle rubbed his head, as if in deep thought, before answering the question. 

"There's, something, different, about her," He said like he was searching for the right words to say. This confused the three turtles who looked at each other as if to say 'what the..?'

"Gee, maybe you'd like to repeat that again in english?" Raph asked.

"Well, uh. What I meant was that, she's healing super fast. A normal girl her age probably would've been out 'til at least tomorrow. And they definitely wouldn't be walking around like she was,"

"So, she's a fast healer?" April suggested. She didn't think the girl was any threat to her turtle friends. So what if she had begun healing a lot faster than Donnie had expected? He wasn't a doctor after all. Plus she knew a few people who seemed to recover quicker than most people.

"I guess, but-" Donnie started to say, but was interrupted by Raph.

"It's gotta be something MORE than that," He said. Raph didn't really have any facts to back up his theory, but he had caught the look she had given him when he asked if she was in trouble. He knew she was in some kind of trouble, Raph just didn't know how bad it was. Also he had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him that there was something more to her than meets the eye.

"Could be, but we don't know for sure," said Leo. The fearless leader, for that what he was often called by his younger brothers (especially Raph), agreed with his brother. However he had to stay in control of the situation and not let his instincts overcome him, like they often did with Raph. Leo also had a feeling that the girl would not tell them anything if she felt the least bit threatened.

"Remember the look she had when I asked her if she was in trouble? She's absolutely hiding something. Something big,"

Leo let out a sigh as he knew his hot-head brother was right, but also knew they'd never learn anything if Raph had things his way so he told him, "You're probably right, but we can't do anything about it now,"

"PROBABLY? I AM RIGHT! And you KNOW it, Leo!" Raph yelled back to Leo as he started to get angry at how his perfect brother couldn't admit that he was right about something! Mikey and Donnie knew that a fight was coming on. Normally they'd just leave and go hide out in the kitchen until Raph stormed out and Leo went into the dojo. Not this time though. Not when they had a patient trying to get some rest, who could very likely be awoken by the two turtles fighting.

"Guys! Stop! Ok? We don't want to risk waking her up. She needs all the rest she can get," Donnie said as he and the orange bandanna brother got in between the other two. April had decided long before to just sit on the couch and watch them solve their quarrel.

"Maybe we outta wake her up! Perhaps then we could find out some answers!" Raph angrily yelled. He couldn't believe that all of his brothers were against him. Couldn't they see that the girl was probably a dangerous threat to them? Hell, she could even be working for the Shredder! Trying to worm her way into their lives and in the end destroys them. Just the thought of it made him sick. Out of anger, he pushed Donnie and Mikey onto Leo, who then fell to the floor, crushed by the weight of his two brothers.

"Ooof, get off me," Leo said as he pushed them off of him and started to get up. He thought about going after Raph, as he was headed towards the doorway with his hat and trench coat in hand when he saw Splinter standing there, with Casey right behind him.

"Rapheal! What is going on here? Why are you shoving your brothers and who is this she? I can see that it is not April," Splinter demanded. It was clear that he had just gotten home and had not heard the whole conversation. However he had heard enough to know that something was going on in his home.

"Raph brought home a young female who had been shot, so Donnie fixed her up. She was up for a little bit but got tired so he helped get back into bed," Leo quickly answered his sensei. _What a goody-two shoes. Always gotta be the perfect son for their Master Splinter. _Raph hated how Leo always did things like that. It just made him even angrier than he already was.

"Gee Raph, looking for a hot date?" Casey teased. Raph just growled and glared at his friend.

"Thank you Leo. I would still like to know why Rapheal is shoving the three of you and where he found this girl," He said as he gave a short bow to Leo, who returned the bow, and then turned to his hot-headed son for an answer. Raph glared at Leo before turning to his master and replied, "I KNOW that there's something going on with the girl that she won't tell us about! They know I'm RIGHT but Leo refuses to admit it!"

"Even if you are right, a true ninja does not shove others over who is right and who isn't. You haven't answered one of my questions. Where did you find her?"

"In the sewers, I tripped over her," After learning that Raph had tripped over her, the other three turtles and the two humans broke out in laughter. Raph glared at his brothers even more and looked ready to kill them. Splinter saw that look and hit his crane on the floor, causing everyone to stop and look up.

"Enough! Let him be. Rapheal go practice your kata's in the dojo, I will talk with the others now," Raph angrily stormed his way into the dojo, where they could all hear him beating the stuffing out of the practice doll in there.

"Casey and I need to get going now. Tell her she can keep the clothes. It was good seeing you all again," April said as she and Casey got up to leave. She stopped when she reached Splinter she said, "Welcome back Splinter," They waved goodbye to the turtles and climbed up the ladder and were gone.

"What do you know about this girl?" Splinter asked his sons.

"Her name's Brianna, Master," Mikey said. He was getting tired of everyone calling Brianna, 'the girl', she had a name! 'Course only he, Donnie, and April knew that.

"Ah, Brianna. Lovely name," Splinter said as he took a seat on his favorite chair. Looking up at them, he asked, "Anything else?"

"She appears to be in some kind of trouble but we haven't learned how much or how bad. I thought it best to gain her trust if we're to learn what it is," Leo said. _Brianna, what a beautiful name. It certainly fits her. She is quite lovely. _Leonardo had thought when he learned what her name was.

"You are right in doing so, my son,"

After a few hours, everything seemed to calm down. Raph was still in the dojo, Splinter and Leo had retreated to their rooms to meditate, Mikey was watching his cartoons, and Donnie had returned to the research on the bullet. Donnie was very careful in his work that he did not wake Brianna up.

"What? That can't be right. Wait, no it's right. Oh dear," He muttered to himself as he had finally figured out where the bullet had come from. What he couldn't figure out was why the military would be after her? Unless she's like a criminal or something. But, she's just a normal 17-yr-old right? He took one last long look at her and quietly left the lab/infirmary. Upon entering the living room, he was spotted by his younger brother who asked him, "Yo Donnie! Whatcha find out, huh?"

"This could be bad, let's go find the others. They need to hear it too,"

Mikey and Donnie gathered up everyone in the living room. Raph was still a bit angry but had calmed down considerably. Finally as soon as they were ready, Donnie told them what he had found out.

"What does the military want with her? She's just a girl," Mikey pointed out. They were all having a tough time with the information that Donnie had presented to them. According to his research, the bullet had come from a gun that was only used by the military. This meant that they were probably the ones that had shot her. But why would the military shoot a 17-yr old girl? It didn't make any sense. They were so engrossed in their debate that only Splinter took notice of Brianna when she appeared in the room.

"How are you feeling my child?" Splinter asked. This caused his 'sons' to stop talking and look up at their mysterious guest who had managed to get up and walk out to the living room without help again.

"Better. I can walk on my leg now without falling over,"

"I am glad to hear that you are healing so well," Splinter told her. Before anyone could say another word, Raph stepped in front of her and demanded to know what the government wanted with her. Leo, Mikey, and Donnie went to go pull Raph away, but before they could, Brianna punched the turtle and sent him flying across the room, where he hit the wall hard. Everyone stopped at what had just happened. Raph too, was stunned, and took a bit longer to get up than normal. Before he could get up all the way, Brianna teleported over to Raph and picked him up like he weighed nothing and tossed him across the room. He hit the other wall now, only this time he got up quicker and now the other turtles joined in the fight.

In a split second, Leo tried to kick her in the head, but she ducked and effortlessly tossed him over her shoulders. Raph came at her again but she used his speed against him and tossed him into his older brother. Seeing their two older brothers being beat up, Donnie and Mikey both went to go pin her down. However right at the last second, she jumped a few feet into the air, causing Donnie and Mikey to collide into each other. She continued to pound on the turtles like she was fighting rag dolls. Splinter watched for a few moments, studying the girl's abilities as she proceeded to kick the living crap out of his 'sons' as if it were nothing. During all of this, the turtles were screaming at her to stop but she wouldn't listen or perhaps didn't hear them. Realizing that she may not stop until the turtles were dead, Splinter took out a whistle that Casey had left behind one time and blew into it as hard as he could.

Finally all the fighting ceased. The turtles looked at Splinter and then back at Brianna. Brianna looked at her hands as she knelt down on the floor, refusing to look up at anyone. Mikey was the first who spoke up as the others were still stunned at what she was capable of.

"Man... no.. wonder... the military's... after... her.." He said as he tried to catch his breath. The dudette was excellent when it came to fighting! To think that if Splinter hadn't gotten her attention, she might not have stopped, was unbelievable!

"NOOOO!" Brianna screamed as loud as she could. She quickly got up and bolted out into the sewers before any of them could get up. Raph was about to go after her when Splinter stopped him.

"No Rapheal. Do not go after her. I do not think it wise for you to be the one to follow her. After all, you are the reason she got violent. I believe Leonardo is the one who needs to go," Splinter said as he put his cane in front of Raph, blocking him from going after Brianna. Leo nodded to his master and went out of the lair in search of Brianna.


	5. Foot Trouble

Disclaimer: Ahem I don't own the turtles, April, Casey, the foot or shredder...

**Ch.5 - Foot Trouble**

She had a good five-second head start on him. Probably more than that, since she could run at a remarkable fast speed. Figuring it would be best just to follow and wait until she stopped; Leo kept a safe distance from her. It was mostly because she was just too fast for him.

They ran down the sewers, before coming to a man hole. Brianna climbed out and kept on running, with Leo right behind. She didn't realize that he was following her sine Leo was staying in the shadows, careful not to be seen by anyone. They continued running down some streets until she ran right into a group of people in black pajamas.

_Oh great. What do they want this time? _Leo thought as he realized that she had run right into the foot! He and his brothers had hoped that the foot would fade away. Since their leader was supposedly dead and all. But that didn't seem likely. They had watched the foot's leader, the Shredder, die twice. Leo hoped, as did the rest of the turtles, that the second time was for real. It would've been a miracle if the Shredder survived. The last time he had died, he'd taken the last of the ooze, making himself into a sort of 'super Shredder'. Then he caused the pier to come crashing down on top of him. _Nobody could've survived that! Could they?_

Brianna fell back on her butt, but didn't stay down for long. The foot had other plans though. The one she'd run into, turned to her and said, "Tsk. tsk. Shouldn't be here, miss. Now we're gonna have to take care of you,"

She looked around to see that the group of black pajama thugs had started to walk towards her brandishing weapons. Slowly, she backed away as if she were scared of them. Leo remained hidden in the shadows waiting for the right moment to jump out and attack. Brianna kept on backing up until she was under a beam. As soon as the two thugs on either side of her were close enough, she jumped up and kicked them both in the gut, sending them flying backwards. In the next second, she grabbed onto the beam and kicked the third guy who had now come in front of her. She then swung herself over the beam and landed on her feet.

Leo was truly amazed at her skills. He may not be needed in this fight after all. Awed by her beauty and her abilities, he continued to watch her kick, punch, and throw the three members of the foot around. Thinking that the battle was over, he got up to go congratulate her for a job well done when, he saw two more foot members join in the fight and about to harm her. The turtles' fearless leader didn't waste anytime. He jumped in, kicking both guys in the head, knocking them out cold.

After that was done, he noticed her staring at him. Not wanting her to flee, he spoke up, "Please don't run. I didn't come here for revenge,"

"Oh really? Then why did you follow me here?" She sarcastically asked. It was obvious that these turtles and the rat were some kind of family. And she had almost killed them! Now one of them had followed her out. If he didn't want to kill her, then maybe he wanted to give her back to the military in exchange for money?

"You're an excellent fighter. Where did you learn to fight like that?" He asked her.

"In prison," She wasn't about to tell him, her whole life story. That could take all night.

"No way! Did you really go to prison?" _Did she escape from prison? But why would the military be after a fugitive? _He could only assume they were after her for her gifts. It was the only thing that separated her from any other fugitive. 'Course he didn't exactly buy her prison story, but would play along if he had to.

"No,"

"Ok, so who taught you those skills?"

"Martial arts instructors,"

"How did you learn how to do that other stuff you do?" _I've asked a few questions and she hasn't started to beat me like she did Raph so I must be doing fine. I don't think it would hurt if I were to ask more._

"What stuff?" She replied as she smiled. Apparently she wasn't going to give him the answers he wanted so easily. Though at least she seemed to be enjoying their conversation so that was a major plus.

"The teleporting, levitating, your incredible fast speed," She stopped and sighed deeply before turning to face Leo. It looked like she was finally going to tell him the answers he'd been after when instead of talking she clenched both of her fists. _Uh Oh! She's not going to go psycho on me, is she? _Not sure of what to say or do. Leo stood there quietly, hoping that she would relax. Finally, after what seemed like hours, but really was only a few minutes, she said, "It's not my fault I have those abilities. It wasn't _my _choice to be like this. All I ever wanted was to be normal so that I didn't have to fight to survive," _I know what you mean. Survival was the very reason, Master Splinter taught us ninjutsi._

"I'm terribly sorry about whatever happened in your past. And I don't mean to offend you, but could you tell me exactly how you got those abilities?" He truly didn't want to press her any further, but knowing that any information she had would be vital in keeping her alive. And possibly his family since they all involved now.

"You're sorry? You don't even know me, so how can you be sorry?"

"I don't know because you won't tell me,"

"Oh so you want me to tell you so you can be sorry?"

"No. I want to know so I can help you,"

"Help me? And how do you plan to do that?"

"Look, I may not know how I can help you. But I do know that you are in something deep. I also can not take the risk that you will expose my family. If you haven't noticed already, we're not exactly human and they aren't too fond of things they don't understand,"

"Alright fine, you win. I'll tell you. Some people experimented on me. That gave me the abilities that I have. Until recently, I was their prisoner. I was shot while trying to escape. These people aren't going to let me go that easily. I know they're tracking me down right now. Heck, maybe they sent those thugs in the black after me,"

"That would be the foot. My brothers and I dealt with them many times before. I suppose it could be a possibility that they're in league with whoever's after you. But why would someone want to experiment on you?" _And what part does the military play in this? Whoever shot you had access to military weapons._

"Have you thought what this world would be like if there was a perfect killing machine out there?"

"No, but I guess if there was then who ever controlled it would have a lot of power,"

"Exactly. But you don't want your killing machine to be obvious. So you decide to use someone who doesn't look dangerous and try to create them into this killing machine,"

"Makes sense. Who are these people?"

"I don't know exactly. Can I ask you something now?" It was a lie. She did know who they were. But she wasn't going to take the chance that this turtle would try to contact them. If he was so worried about his family's safety, he might be willing to do anything to ensure that.

"Yea, sure,"

"Do you know of a place where I can hide out for awhile?"

"You're welcome to stay with my brothers and me. And Master Splinter too of course," Leo didn't know what it was, but he felt a sudden urge to protect her from these people. He also wanted her to stay in the lair with him for some odd reason. _What is this that I'm feeling? I don't even know her, so how can I feel like this?_

"Thanks. But I think I'd rather stay out of the sewers. Is there anywhere else I can stay?"

Leo stopped to think for a second. _I'm sure April and Casey would let her stay. But I really shouldn't impose on them like this. Brianna does need a place to hide out and it may not be a good idea for her to stay with us. Especially after what happened earlier with her and Raph. It's probably best that she stay with April and Casey for a bit. Until things cool down, that is._

"Do you remember April?" Leo asked her.

"Yea,"

"She shares an apartment with her boyfriend, Casey. I'm sure they'd let you stay with them for awhile,"

"Ok, great. Thank you,"

"You're welcome,"

Neither one of them spoke another word as they walked towards April's apartment. After a few moments they reached her place. Not wanting to be seen at the front door, Leo led her to the back and crawled in through the window. April and Casey usually left the back window open just a bit, so the turtles could get in without being seen. They found the place empty since April was at work and Casey was probably out with Raph busting some skulls. Using the phone to call April, Leo let her know that Brianna would be staying with her if it was okay with her of course. April naturally said yes so Leo decided to wait with Brianna for either Casey or April to come home. Knowing the way Casey acts sometimes, he didn't want her to kick the living crap out of April's boyfriend.

"You ever played uno before?" He asked her. Brianna had taken a seat in the kitchen at the table and seemed to be lost in her thoughts until Leo had spoken to her.

"No," She replied. Leo grabbed the stack of uno playing cards from the coffee table in the living room, and told her the rules. They played uno up until Casey walked in. Leo had been doing pretty well. They'd done five rounds and he had won four of those. Brianna didn't mind that she was losing. To her, the idea of someone wanting to have fun with her, not in _that _way mind you, hadn't seemed like it was possible. Until now that is. For her whole life the only time she was around people was when her abilities were being examined or when she had those doctor visits. None of those times had been to have fun. No instead all it ever was work. Well except for Dr. Madison. She had been her only friend, until they killed her!

"So you finally got yourself a girl I see," Casey remarked when he saw Brianna sitting across the table from Leo.

"What! It's not like that, doofus!" Leo quickly said as he blushed.

"Oh? It's not? Then what is it?" Leo then filled Casey in on who Brianna was. To which Casey asked, "Ah, you're the one who gave Raph a beating?"

"Yea, um, look, I'm very sorry about that. I guess I got carried away. I hope he's okay," Ashamed that she had had such an outburst earlier; she looked down at her feet as she spoke to him.

"Don't worry about it sweet cakes," Casey assured her as he got himself a beer from the fridge.

"Raph's fine. He's probably suffering from a bruised pride right now. Nothing serious," Leo told her. Casey offered them a beer to which they declined. Leo then stood up and announced that he was going home now that Casey was here.

"Oh, by the way, Brianna's going to be staying with you and April for awhile. April already knows," He said as he climbed out of the window and onto the streets.

"Yea, sure thing," Casey said as he finished the can of beer off.

* * *

In a matter of minutes, Leo was back at home. Raph was the only one missing. Not that, that it was a surprise. He often went out for hours at a time. Especially if he had been embarrassed or had gotten in a fight with Leo. Leo related the recent events with Brianna to the rest of the family, to which Don mumbled, "It can't be true, can it?" He tilted his head and rested it on his finger, as if in deep thought.

"Hey Donnie, watcha thinking?" Mikey said as he looked at his older brother in a curios way.

"Well, I heard this rumor awhile back. But I had hoped that it wasn't true,"

"What was the rumor?" Leo asked.

"It was about how the government is secretly funding military operations to experiment on people. Supposedly, they're trying to create the perfect killing machine. Or well person, I guess would be that right term here,"

"So you think that Brianna's one of these people they're using?" Mikey asked.

"Well, if what she says is true then yea," Donnie replied.

"Then you must help her," Splinter said as he appeared at the doorway. He had apparently been listening in on their conversation and had chosen now to make his presence known.

"Of course we will help her," Leo respectfully said.

"Help her! LEO, she tried to KILL us!" Raph shouted as he caught the last part of their conversation. The three turtles all turned to see their brother standing there, who had just returned, with his arms folded against himself, eyes glaring at Leo.

"Chill out dude. You don't know the whole story," Mikey said, hoping to calm his brother's nerves.

"Then why doesn't someone fill me in?" Raph responded. Donnie very quickly explained to Raph what they had found out.

"Ok, but how do we know that they let her go on purpose to test her gifts?" Raph asked.

"We don't," Donnie agreed.

"But it doesn't mean that she knows that that's what may have happened. She needs our help so that is what we must do," Leo stated.

"The first thing she'd need is a safe place to hide for awhile. Leo already saw to that, so now what?" Donnie asked.

"Well, we could make sure that they don't try to experiment on her anymore. And that they don't try to take up this project with someone else," Leo thoughtfully said.

"So what you're saying is that we take them out?" Donnie asked. Had he heard right? Leo was the one who would stay and wait, instead of going out and attacking on an impulse. That's what Raph normally did.

"If that's what it takes to shut their project down, then yes," One could almost see the smile creeping on Raph's face.

"It's decided then. Tomorrow morning you will get started on ending their project. For now you will go to bed and get some rest," Splinter said as he made them all retire to their rooms. If they were going to end the government's secret project, they would need to be on full alert. It was after all extremely late and they had all had a very long night.


	6. Closing In

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Brianna and this story idea.

**Ch. 6 – Closing In**

Foot Headquarters

"Come closer," An old, feeble man in a wheelchair, said to a young man in a black pajama-like suit. The young man cautiously approached the elder.

"HOW STUPID DO YOU THINK I AM!" The man in the wheelchair bellowed at the younger man.

"No, Master Shredder, not at all. But I assure you, what I told you about the girl, is true," Unbeknownst to the turtles, their archenemy had survived the pier falling on him. Barely survived that is. For now he was confined to a wheelchair with no use of his legs or arms. The t.g.r.i. ooze had aged him considerably. His once jet black hair was now white and falling out. And his once smooth skin was all wrinkled like a seventy year-old man. If it wasn't for the scar on his face from that fateful night many years ago in Japan, no one would even recognize this man in the wheelchair as the notorious Shredder.

"It had better be. 'Cuz if its not, I'll skin you alive," Shredder seethed at the foot ninja.

"Excuse me, Master Shredder, but what do you plan to do with this freaky girl?" One of the foot asked.

"If she's as strong and as powerful as he says, then I will use her to destroy those damn turtles!" A chorus of voices rang out cheering on Shredder's plan to bring down the turtles. One curious voice spoke out, above the crowd and asked, "What if she is friends with the turtles? How will we get her to destroy them?"

"Doesn't matter," A nerdy-looking guy with big-rimmed glasses and a lab coat said as he entered the room.

"Is it done?" Shredder impatiently asked.

"Yes, but it needs to be tested," The nerdy guy answered as he held up a small device between his thumb and forefinger.

"Great. I have found the perfect test subject," Shredder mischievously said.

* * *

"Report. What have you found?" The bald, middle-aged man in a military captain's uniform, in a room with white walls, white floor, and white ceiling with sophisticated computers asked another officer.

"Subject 23X has apparently fled into the sewers. Sir," The junior officer responded while saluting his superior.

"The sewers? Has your team located Subject 23X yet, Lt. Nitwite?"

"Not yet. Sir. The sewers cover her tracks almost completely, sir,"

"How hard can it be? She's wounded for crying out loud!"

"Yes, but she heals faster than any of us do, Capt. Carter," A scientist said as he caught the last part of the conversation. Capt. Carter looked at him before turning his attention back to his junior.

"Go out and find Subject 23X and don't come back without her!" He shouted as the younger officer hurriedly left the room.

* * *

April arrived home to find Casey on the couch, watching TV and sipping his beer, and Brianna in the kitchen engrossed with the uno cards. She rolled her eyes at her boyfriend who simply gave her a 'hey babe' look when she walked in with her hands full of groceries. As she sat them down on the table she welcomed Brianna to her apartment and told her not to mind Casey. While the two girls were putting away the food, Brianna asked, "How come you're friends with the turtles?"

"Well, they're pretty cool guys. They act just like any other normal human being. Plus they've helped saved my life on occasion," April replied. Brianna gave a slight nod and a slight 'o' formed in her mouth.

"Hey gorgeous, watcha get?" Casey asked as he walked into the kitchen and tried to kiss April. She pushed him away and told him that was what he gets for not helping her put the stuff away earlier.

"Aww c'mon babe, you know I love to watch cops. If you would've come in during the commercial, I would've helped ya," He said while slyly putting his arms around her waist. April smiled and replied, "Mmm yea sure," and turned to allow him to kiss her.

After a few moments of this display of affection, Brianna cleared her throat, letting the couple know that she was still here.

"Is there a place where I can rest? I'm rather tired," Brianna stated as soon as she had their attention.

"Oh, yes. I'm sorry for being so rude. Here, I'll go show you where everything is," April said as she left Casey's side and proceeded to give Brianna a small tour of the apartment.

* * *

_Man, do these sewers ever stink! Why did that girl have to go down here? How in the world did she even breathe! _Just when Lt. Nitwite was about to abandon the search and retreat back up to the surface, a uniformed man apparently lower rank than he was, approached.

"Sir," the uniformed man replied while saluting, "we've tracked Subject 23X down some more tunnels. I think we're getting closer,"

"Excellent. Alright then, we keep going until Subject 23X has been found," And with that the small group of military men and their tracking devices continued down the sewer tunnels, getting closer and closer to the turtles' lair.

After murking through the sewer water down even more tunnels, the men finally came upon what appeared to be a dead end.

"The trail, stops here, sir," One of the men called out to Lt. Nitwite.

"Well, she's not here so it can't have just stopped there! This is a dead end! Now, where is she?" He replied in utter confusion. _How could the trail just stop without us running into her? Arg, I hate all this scientific crap! _

"Sir! I think I found something!" The third man called out as he peered over a strange opening in the sewer floor. The other two men rushed over to see what it was.


	7. Kidnapped!

Disclaimer: I don't own turtles, April, Casey, foot, shredder, etc. etc. ok? but I do own Brianna and this story idea so there.

**Ch. 7 - Kidnapped**

After struggling to go to sleep, Brianna figured it was useless to keep trying so she got up. Quietly she left the apartment to go on a walk. She knew it was pretty late or very early, depending on your point of view, and she didn't want to wake April or Casey up. Not after they'd been so kind to her.

She walked for a good fifteen minutes before deciding to go back since she really didn't know her way around New York City and didn't want to get lost. During her walk, she kept thinking about the turtles, especially the one in the blue mask. She wondered where they came from. Were they too once a part of some military experiement? She had been cautious of them at first for fear that they would send her back to that place. But now as she thought about it, she realized that she had been wrong. They had cleaned her up and treated her gunshot wound before they even knew who she was. And how had she she repayed them? By kicking the crap out of them. They had also found a place for her to say for awhile and hadn't asked for anything in return. Though she didn't care too much for the red turtle since he seemed to hate her, she did consider the others as friends. _Friends? I have friends now? _Brianna had had only one friend before, Dr. Madison. Since then she'd been alone for as long as she could remember. Could she really trust these new friends of her?

Right as she passed an alleyway, a group of foot members jumped out in front of her. She braced herself for the invetible fight that would soon ensue. What did these guys want with her? Were they here to bring her back to that awful place? _No! I won't go back!_ She started to beat on them as she had with the turtles earlier.

After a matter of minutes, they were all unconscious. But, Brianna was exhausted from all the fighting and lack of sleep. Remembering the first time she had been attacked, she went back to the turtles' lair to learn the truth about the black pajama clad men.

* * *

"Sir, what do you make of it?" 

"I... I'm not sure," Lt. Nitwite replied back as he and his men were all hunched around a strange opening in the sewer floor.

"Should one of us go down there, sir?"

"No, no. We don't know what's down there. Activate one of the cameras that feed back into the main computer at headquarters," The others knew what their superior was planning to do with the camera. Since it could potentially be too dangerous for them to explore what was down there without knowing what was down there, the only choice was to put one of their little tiny cameras down there and wait until headquarters gave them a command on what to do.

"There. That should do it," The man stated after he had finished lowering the camera device down. They had started walking away and were almost to a manhole when they heard someone coming. Quickly they hid and were astonished when they saw that the someone was the same person whom they were after! They followed her down the same path that they had just walked away and saw her go down into the strange hole.

* * *

Leonardo sprinted up. He was now fully awake. _What made me do that? _Since he had no success in going back to sleep, he figured the next best thing would be to go practice in the dojo. He quietly got himself ready as not to disturb his siblings or his sensei. Entering the den area, he noticed a form on the couch. Neither he nor his brothers had brought anyone home that night. And Rapheal hadn't gone sneaking off so it wasn't some helpless creature he had found. Slowly, he crept over to where the form lay, being very careful not to awaken it. When he realized that it was Brianna on the couch, he felt his heart melt. She looked so peaceful there. Though that couldn't be further from the truth. Leo let out a sigh as a he thought about all the things this beautiful girl had been through, and all the things she had yet to endure if she ever wanted to be free. His sigh was not unheard as it caused Brianna to stir and awake. 

"Hey, how you feeling?" Leo asked as he smiled at her.

"Could be worse, I suppose," She replied sleepily.

"What happened? I thought you'd be at April's and Casey's sleeping," He asked. She told him how she had been until she had trouble sleeping. And how she went out for a walk, only to be attacked by the foot and how she knew they had some of the answers she was seeking. Leo then apologized for not trying to protect her better and gave her the whole explanation on the foot and Shredder.

Pretty soon Splinter and the rest of the turtles were up and learned about Brianna's encounter with the foot.

"I'd be better off if I had never been born," Brianna stated. She hadn't meant to say it out loud, but it just came out. Hopefully no one heard her but Leo did.

"Don't say things like that. It's not your fault you have all these abilities," Leo reminded her.

"What are you two lovebirds gapping about now?" Mikey asked. In response, he was bopped on the head by Leo, who claimed that they were not lovebirds.

"So what were you two yapping about?" Raph asked.

"I was just reminding her that everything's that happened is not her fault," Leo answered.

"But it is. All I've ever wanted is to be normal. Just be like everyone else. If I were, I wouldn't be in this mess!" Brianna exclaimed as she jumped up from the couch.

"Dontcha like all those cool stuff you can do?" Mikey asked as he looked at her in a puzzled manner.

"All my abilities have done is kept me locked inside one building, my whole life! I've been poked and prodded and forced to do things so that they could test my abilities! I didn't even have the luxury of going where I pleased! So no, I do NOT like all the cool stuff I can do!" Brianna said through her teeth as she clenched her fists. This scared Mikey a bit. He hadn't meant to get her upset, he just thought it was so cool that she could do all that stuff. Unlike Raph though, he knew when to back off. And this was definitely time.

"We understand that you have had a rough life, child. However that which does not kill us, makes us stronger. Even though you may not see how your trials will make you a better person, later you will look back at that time and realize that what you went through was necessary in order to shape you into the person you will become," Splinter calmly said. This did nothing to calm her though. She become aggated and Leo had to grab onto her arms from behind to keep her from going psycho on his brothers or even his sensei. Realizing, that he could do no more and that his eldest could help her, Splinter retired to his room.

"Would you happen to know how you acquired your abilities?" Donnie asked. He had been meaning to ask her this for awhile but had been afraid that she would take it the wrong way.

"I don't know... I... don't remember," She replied as she tried to get out from Leo's grasp, but he held firm. There was no way he was going to let her go. Not until she calmed down.

"Well, depending on how you got them, there might be a way to reverse them," Brianna perked up when she heard that and asked, "Really? You can do that?"

"Yea, I think I might be able to. I'd need a sample of your blood to -" Donnie had started to tell her how he could possibly give her a normal life when she started freaking out over the idea of him coming near her with a needle. To Raph, it looked as if Leo was having trouble keeping her from losing it on Donnie so he stepped in to help. But she leaned back into Leo and lifted her legs up as she tried to kick Raph. Luckily, he saw it coming and ducked. Leo saw it too, for he threw her on the couch and held her down as he spoke to her, "I know you're scared, but Donnie would never use the blood sample against you. He'd only use it to help you. None of us wish to cause you harm, but we will if you give us reason to. You want to be normal, right?"

"Yes," She hissed.

"Okay now will you let Donnie explain what he will do with your blood?"

"Yes," She hissed again. Leo turned to look at his brothers and saw Raph glaring at Brianna while Mikey and Donnie both looked concerned. Donnie resumed his composure and began to explain the process, "I'd break the blood down and study it. 'Course we'd need some of April's blood to help determine what makes her so different from other female humans. Then from there, I could learn how to reverse the damage that's been done, if that's even possible,"

"Yea, Donnie would only use the blood sample to help you, never to harm you. None of us would," Mikey added.

"If I let you up, will you promise not to attack us or try to escape?" Leo asked.

"Yes," She answered and Leo released his hold on her, but did not leave her side. A few moments later, Donnie appeared with a syringe and drew some blood from her. He then instructed Raph to call April and have her come down so they could have a small sample of her blood too.

While they were waiting for April, Mikey and Raph started watching cartoons. They were sitting on one end of the couch, laughing their heads off at the TV. Brianna and Leo were cuddled together on the other end of the couch, looking very comfy with each other.

When April did come, Mikey and Raph were still engrossed in the TV, but looked up long enough to give her a smile and a wink. She gave Leo and Brianna a questioning look and disappeared into Donnie's lab.

* * *

"What the hell are those things?" Capt. Carter asked as he looked at four large walking and talking turtles on the screen. 

"Looks like four overgrown turtles," Dana, one of the scientists replied.

"They're hideous looking creatures. More like demons if you ask me," Capt. Carter commented.

"I'd really like to study these creatures," Dana thoughtfully said.

"I don't care what you do with them demons. All I want is Subject 23X back!" He angrily said as he pounded his fist on the counter.

"Well those 'demons' may be the key to getting her back and vice versa. Catch one and the other will follow, especially that blue one,"

"Yes, you may have a point there," He commented as he witnessed how close the blue turtle and Subject 23X seemed to becoming.

"Any plans on how to capture them?" She inquired.

"They appear to have some fighting skills, let's find out how good they are, shall we?"

* * *

Everything seemed so peaceful at the turtles' lair. Everyone, minus Splinter and Donnie, were out watching TV. Splinter was meditating in his room and Donnie, of course, was conducting some tests on the blood samples that he had. This peaceful setting didn't last for suddenly a group of men, dressed in military attire, dropped in for a visit. The turtles immediately jumped up and went on the defensive. Brianna rushed April into Donnie's lab to keep her safe and so Donnie could help his brothers out. The government's finest didn't stand a chance against the turtles, though they did get in a few lucky strikes. Finally all the men were knocked out and only the turtles remained standing. 

"So, fearless leader, what should we do with them?" Raph asked, knowing his question would anger Leo.

"I am NOT your fearless leader. We should keep one of them for questioning. The rest we can dump topside somewhere far from here,"

"Okay then," They went to work carrying out the unconscious bodies and leaving them in alleyways, in dumpsters, just wherever you might find a sleeping drunk. When they were down to just one body, he was tied up and left where he was.

"Will this never end?" Brianna asked.

"It will. I'll walk you and April home. I don't think its wise for you to remain here," Leo stated as he ushered April and Brianna out, leaving his younger siblings to deal with the one man. April walked a few paces behind Brianna and Leo. She wanted to give them some time alone. _Aww, just look at them. I know they're in love. Though I'm sure they'd never admit it. At least not yet. _They had barely reached the apartment, when they were attacked yet again by the foot.

"Not them again," Brianna said and then went into her fighting mode. She was quite successful in knocking them down with her fists and a few kicks. Leo thought she'd be able to take them all down when he noticed that more and more foot soldiers were approaching.

"Shit," Leo whispered. Now all three were trying to fight the foot off. April managed to get in a few lucky hits, but was quickly knocked out. At last one of the foot members got smart and realized that Brianna was too strong for them to handle, so he pulled out a tranquilizer gun and shot her with it.

"Nooo!" Leo screamed when he saw Brianna being carried off by several foot soldiers. He tried to run after her, but was hit from behind and slumped to the ground as darkness enveloped him.


	8. Plans

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the anything remotely related to the tmnt. All I own is Brianna, Thomas, and Dana, the government agents and scientists plus this story idea. k? So don't sue me! lol. :D

**Ch. 8 - Plans**

Drip, drip, drip. . .

Leo woke up to the rain dripping onto him. Looking up, he noticed that he was lying on the street. Daylight was approaching and he realized that he had to get back to the sewers soon, before anyone noticed a large turtle on the sidewalk. But, first he went over to check on April to see if she was okay.

"Yea, nothing a little aspirin won't cure. What happened? Where's Brianna?" She replied. The last thing she remembered was Brianna and Leo kicking the foot's butt.

"They have her. It's all my fault," He answered as he sighed, remembering how he had seen her being carried away by the foot.

"I'm sure you did everything that you could. We'll get her back,"

"Yes we will. But it is my fault. If I had kept a closer eye on her or something, maybe-" He said as tears started to form in his eyes, if such a thing was possible.

"If she was what they were after, they would've tried to obtain her, no matter what you might've done to stop them. And none of us knew that they were after her, if she was even what they were after," April reassured him.

"I could've done something,"

"What you need to do now is to get back home before someone spots you out here," She reminded him. Leo nodded and disappeared down into the nearest manhole.

* * *

_Why is it so bright in here? Wait, where am I? _Brianna thought as she started to wake up and was blinded by a bright, white light. Becoming more aware of her surroundings, she saw that she was strapped onto some table in a room that reminded her of a lab. _Oh God! No! Please don't tell me I'm back here! Whatever it is that they want, I won't do it! They'll have to kill me this time!_

Suddenly the door swung open and a man in a wheelchair wheeled in. Followed closely behind him, was some geeky-looking guy with short messy hair, big-rimmed glasses, a white shirt, black pants, and a lab coat over him. _Yep, he's a scientist alright. _

"Where the hell am I?" She yelled while struggling to get free.

"Try all you want my dear, but you'll never escape!" The wheelchair man said.

"Who are you?" She asked, glaring at him. The man just smiled at her and said, "You can call me Master Shredder,"

"Shredder," Brianna gasped as she recalled Leo's story about the foot and Shredder. _Wait. Isn't he supposed to be dead?_

"Although Master will do just fine,"

"I'll never call you master, you sick freak!" She seethed at him. He wheeled himself closer to her and grabbed onto her hair, causing her head to jerk up.

"I am not a sick freak, my dear. In fact you are going to help me get rid of the freaks," He said to her ear.

"Oh, really? And who would that be?"

"Those turtles! Who else?"

"What makes you think I'll help you?"

"Because I am going to help you first,"

"Help me? How?"

"It's simple, once Thomas is finished with you, you won't be able to say no to me!" He answered and finally let go of her. She looked over to see Thomas, the geeky-looking scientist, next to her with a needle in his hand. She tried to squirm away from him but couldn't due to the restraints on her.

"What are you planning to do!"

"First I thought I'd give you something to calm you down,"

"And then what?"

"Next, Thomas is going to implant a small chip into you. This will make you be under my control since I have this-" She saw a small box, much like those remote controls for a toy car, (except it was more sophisticated), hooked onto the side of the wheelchair. "- then I will use you to kill the turtles and then nothing, NOTHING will stop me from taking over the world!"

"You won't get away with it!"

"Oh yes I will,"

"What makes you think I can stop the turtles, if you can't?"

"I know all about your special abilities. Thomas, start the procedure,"

"Nooooo!" She screamed as he injected her with the needle.

* * *

"Geez Leo, where you've been?" Mikey asked when Leo finally came in. It was now mid-morning and Leo had left early in the night to walk the girls to the apartment. Mikey had been trying to bet Raph and Don that Leo had stayed the night with Brianna. Both Raph and Don knew that Leo was too noble to do that. So they had played along with Mikey to help calm their worst fears. Now Leo returns looking like he got the shell kicked out of him.

"Just ran into some friends of ours," Leo replied as he rubbed his head where he had been struck earlier that night.

"April and Casey are our only friends, besides Brianna, that is," Don said.

"Actually it was the foot,"

"Ooo, what happened? They give you a beating?" Mikey asked.

"No, I was walking them home when we got jumped. Brianna and I were doing pretty good at taking them down, until they shot her with a tranquilizer dart and knocked me over the head with something," Leo explained.

"What happened to the girl after that? Where is she?" Raph asked.

"They took her. Have you gotten him to talk yet?" Leo asked as he pointed to the tied-up man, next to Raph on the couch.

"Nope, was waiting for you. Didn't think you'd wanna miss out the fun," Raph said while he played with his sai. He obviously was eager to start the torture on their new 'friend'.

"No I don't. Especially since he knows how I can get her back," Leo seethed and suddenly drew his katana out at their hostage. His brothers just stared at him in shock. Their usual cool tempered brother now was ready to kill their only hope of learning what these 'military' men wanted from them. Raph knew what he had to do; he hooked his sai onto the katana and disarmed Leo.

"What the hell are you doing, Leo!" Raph asked.

"Nothing. I want to know what these clowns were doing down here! And I want to know how they found us! And I want to know NOW!" Leo shouted at the hostage while he picked him up the collar of his shirt and held him a few inches above the ground. The hostage barely flinched during all of this. He obviously had been prepared for situations like this. They suspected that he wasn't a foot member since he didn't wear the normal attire. But it was also suspected that the foot and the military were somehow connected. This time Don and Mike stepped in between Leo and his would be victim.

"Let me see your head wound," Don said and went over to check out Leo's wound. They went to the infirmary leaving Mikey and Raph to do the questioning.

"So buddy, what do you think of our humble home?" Raph asked while twirling his sai in front of the poor guy. The guy said nothing. Mikey approached him next and said, "We don't take too kindly to people who crash our home and attack us,"

"So if I were you, I'd start talking, before I get mad," Raph added.

"And you don't want to see him mad. Trust me, it's not pretty," Their hostage sill just sat there, so Raph decided to try a new approach. He could only hope that Mikey would play along.

"So Mikey how about we have some human soup tonight?" Raph asked.

"But gosh we had that last night,"

"True, but this time our food came to us. Shouldn't we take advantage of the situation?"

"I guess so. He's not cooperating so we might as well eat him," They both looked over at their victim and noted that he seemed quite frightened at this point.

"Well, I might be willing to let our food go. If he starts talking, that is,"

"Alright! Alright! I'll talk, just don't eat me," The hostage said. He was very scared. Here he was in a sewer with four huge walking and talking reptiles. Actually they looked more like demons to him. Quickly he told them how some of the government had tracked Subject 23X to here and how they had installed a camera to keep an eye on things. Lastly, he told them how he and the others had been sent here to test them. Mikey and Raph now were the ones who were scared. Their worst nightmare had come true; their identities had been discovered by the government. It was only a matter of time before they were successfully captured for experiments. Trusting that since he was tied up, their prisoner wouldn't be able to escape, they ran into Donnie's lab and relayed what he told them to Donnie and Leo.

While the turtles were discussing what to do now, their prisoner freed his hands and took out a small pill. He quickly swallowed the pill and started choking. In the next second he collapsed onto the floor with a big thud and died.

Running out to see what the big thud was, the turtles saw their prisoner lying on the floor, perfectly still. Donnie was the first to reach him and checked his vital signs. He sighed when he found none.

"He's dead," He told the others.

"Great. Now we're never gonna learn where this part of the government is held up," Raph said.

"What if we caught one of them again? Surely they'll be back for us," Mikey added.

"Yes and they'll be stronger and more prepared for us. Before they didn't know what we were capable of. Now they do. You can rest assured that there'll be lots more of them and they'll probably bring weapons like stun guns and stuff to capture us with," Donnie pointed out.

"We've first got to get Splinter to a safe location. No way can we let them capture him. And we've also got to find this camera of theirs," Leo ordered.

"I might be able to hack into their computers and find out about 'subject 23x'," Donnie said.

"Excellent. Donnie you find out anything you can about Subject 23X, which I'm pretty sure is Brianna. Raph and I will take Splinter to a safe place and Mikey you start searching for that camera. I'm pretty sure its somewhere in this living room. Just look for anything that you don't recognize," Leo said. Not even waiting for him to finish everyone started on their tasks. Of course the safe place was April's apartment. Knowing that the government was probably watching them right now, Leo had avoided mentioning April's apartment. He didn't want them to discover her apartment and capture their sensei.


	9. Set Up

Disclaimer: Yea you know the drill. Ok. Good.

**Ch. 9 – Set-Up**

"Now you will help me get rid of those turtles once and for all," Shredder said as he looked at a young woman in a tight black leather outfit. Brianna had on a pair of skin tight black leather pants and a matching sleeve-less leather top that zipped up to a low v-neck cut. She also wore a pair of leather boots. Shredder had her change into the outfit after Thomas had successfully attached the chip onto her neck right next to her hairline on the back right side. He felt that the sweats she had on before did not make her look like a fighter. Now she looked ready to kill and man did she look hot. Shredder dismissed Thomas and told him to send one of the foot to him. While he waited, he stared at Brianna, wishing that he had not been paralyzed. Brianna just stared into space, totally oblivious to the filthy stares, Shredder was giving her.

Finally the foot member came in and bowed before his master. Shredder told him, "Go find that April O'Neil at channel 3 and tell her to inform the turtles to meet me at the old warehouse if they wish to see Miss Brianna alive,"

"Yes, Master Shredder," The young foot member replied and left on his mission. Brianna continued to stand there, not moving. Not even looking at anything in particular. It was as if the chip had turned her into a zombie.

* * *

_Ok, now if I were a camera, where would I be? Hmm. _Mikey thought as he started to look for the tiny camera in the living room. He started looking over by the TV set. He went through all the movies and games. Searched through the drawers, where the game controllers were kept, even though he knew it probably wouldn't be in there. Next, he started going through the bookshelves. Still, nothing. _I've got to find that thing and fast! Now where could it be? _Mikey stopped to take a look around the room. _The guy said that they had lowered the camera in here. So it should be over by the opening, on top of something, right? _He walked over to where that would be. Finally he noticed something on one of the tables.

_Huh? What's this? _Mikey thought as he held up a small black device that he had found. _Is this the camera I'm supposed to be looking for? Leo said to look for anything that I don't recognize and I definitely do not remember this being here. Donnie would know though. I'll go ask him. _

* * *

April smiled as she parked her car at the news channel 3 building. It was a beautiful day. _I sure hope Brianna's okay. I know how Leo feels about her. Though he won't admit it. _She had almost made it inside when someone grabbed her from behind and pulled her into the alleyway beside her work. She tried to scream, but a hand was firmly placed onto her mouth.

"Now listen carefully, Miss O'Neil. I have a message for you to give to those turtle friends of yours. My friends and I hold the girl hostage. If they wish to see her alive, they must meet us at the old warehouse at pier 6, after dark," He whispered in her ear. He gave her a second to think about it before pushing her to the ground and fleeing. April sat there for a minute, stunned at what had just happened before she hurried into the building.

* * *

"Hey Donnie! Is this the camera?" Mikey asked when he came into his brother's lab, causing Donnie to jump. He took the small device from Mikey and inspected it.

"Yep. That's a camera alright. Probably recording us right now," Donnie muttered. He pulled out a small wire and set it on the desk.

"Huh? Whatcha do that for?" Mikey asked.

"Basically I just turned the camera off. I might be able to figure out where it was transmitting to,"

"Transmitting to?"

"Yes. Didn't you hear that guy? He said that his superior had been watching us -"

"Oh! So you mean that the little camera was only sending the picture to something bigger?"

"Yes, something like that. If I can rewire it right, it should lead us to the source,"

* * *

"Hi, Miss O'Neil. It's a gorgeous day, huh?" Annie Lemn, the young secretary greeted when she saw April rush in.

"Yea, great," April mumbled and quickly shut the door to her office. She dialed the turtles' number as fast as she could.

"Hello?" Leo answered.

"Leo?" April asked.

"Speaking,"

"It's April. Listen I found out where she is, or rather where she'll be tonight,"

"Really? Oh thank you so much!" Leo said. _Brianna had been found!_

"Hold on there. Its not exactly good news,"

"Why? What's wrong? Did they hurt her? If they laid a finger on her, I swear I'll kill them,"

"I don't know. All I know is that the guy said to meet them at the old warehouse by pier 6, after dark. If you want to see her alive again,"

"Ok, then my brothers and I will be there,"

"Leo, it's a trap,"

"I know, but I have to save her,"

April sighed and said, "Alright. I have to get back to work now, but please let me know what happens. And be careful,"

"I will. Bye,"

"Bye,"

* * *

"Oh! So you mean that the little camera was only sending the picture to something bigger?"

"Yes, something like that. If I can rewire it right, it should lead us to the source,"

"Great. But first we've got to go rescue Brianna," Leo said as he stood in the doorway. Raph was right behind him. Both Mikey and Donnie jumped at the sound of their elder brother.

"Geez! What are you trying to do, Leo? Kill me by giving me a heart attack?" Mikey asked after he recovered from the initial surprise.

"Sorry. The foot just sent April a message for us," Leo replied.

"We're supposed to meet them down by the old warehouse by pier 6, after dark, if we want to see Brianna alive," Raph said when he came into the lab.

"How do you know that?" Leo asked in surprise.

"I caught one of them and made him talk to me," Raph answered.

"Oh, okay. So did the two of you find anything?"

"I found the camera and Donnie turned it off," Mikey said, pointing to the little black device on the desk.

"And I succeeded in hacking into the government's files on her. I don't think we have time to discuss what I found right now," Donnie answered.

"Right. Ok, turtles let's go!" Leo said as they went to go meet the foot.


	10. Failure

**Disclaimer**: I don't own turtles, rats, reporters, etc. Brianna is mine though. So are Dana, Thomas, and all of the government/military people.

**Ch.10 - Failure**

"You know considering our past dealings with the foot, this is most likely some kind of set-up," Donnie pointed out as they reached the old warehouse. His brothers nodded in agreement. Brianna had been kidnapped the night before so it had been about 24 hours since the last time they saw her. Not only was the warehouse dark, but it appeared to be empty. Raph, being the impulsive turtle that he is, decided to make their presence known by shouting to them, "HEY! FOOT! COME OUT, COME OUT EVERYWHERE YOU ARE!"

As if on cue, hundreds of foot members started coming out of the shadows. Mikey nudged his loud mouth brother and said, "Nice going." Soon Brianna stepped out in her black leather outfit with the shredder right behind her. The wind was nicely blowing her straight golden blonde hair, which was about to the middle of her back, around her shoulders and arms. Though her hair didn't tangle the least bit. However the turtles were not aware that the shredder was still alive. But they would soon find out.

"Who's the old guy in the wheelchair?" Mikey asked.

"What guy?" Raph asked.

"I think he means the guy behind Brianna," Donnie guessed.

"I dunno. Leo, who do you think he is?" Raph said.

"Not sure. There's something familiar about him. He's definitely in some kind of high position with the foot," Leo replied.

* * *

"DAMN! What happened to the picture!" Captain Carter shouted when the image of the turtles suddenly stopped. The men at the big screen console were busily pushing all kinds of buttons, trying to get the image back. It was no use though. They couldn't bring back the picture.

"I'm sorry, sir, it appears to be disconnected somehow," One of the men at the console replied.

"Disconnected! Disconnected how!" Capt. Carter yelled furiously.

"By those demon turtles apparently," was the response from Dana. _This is crazy talk! Turtles do not have the intelligence to disconnect a sophisticated government-issued camera! Yet, how else could we have lost the picture? Intelligent turtles? Is that what I'm saying? This is insane!_ Carter had learned from the attack on the turtles the night before, that they were very strong and skilled in the martial arts. Now that he couldn't keep an eye on them to observe, it had become necessary to capture them. Thinking back to what Dana had said regarding Subject 23X and one of the turtles, if he ever hoped to capture them all, he had better find Subject 23X or a turtle fast! Using his cell phone, he called Lt. Nitwite, the officer who had been in charge of tracking Subject 23X to the sewers, "Lt. Nitwite, this is Capt. Carter, come in please,"

"Lt. Nitwite reading you loud and clear, sir,"

"Have you tracked Subject 23X since she left the sewers?"

"Yes, we have just tracked her to an old warehouse, sir,"

"What's Subject 23X doing there?"

"It looks like some kind of stand off between a ninja clan called the foot and those demon turtles of yours, sir,"

"Hmm. This sounds interesting. What is Subject 23X specifically doing?"

"Right now she's just standing at the foot's front with some guy in a wheelchair behind her, sir,"

"Here are your orders Lt., as soon as you get the chance, re-capture Subject 23X at all costs! I want those turtles and Subject 23X is the way to get them! If you fail, you're dead! And I'll personally make sure that your body will be burned beyond recognition! Is that clear?"

"Perfectly clear, sir,"

* * *

The stand off between the foot and the turtles continued. An eerie silence filled the air as both clans just glared at each other, not moving. At last, Shredder moved forward and spoke, "So we meet again. But this time, I SHALL destroy you!"

"Huh? Meet again? We've never met buddy!" Mikey replied in confusion. This guy did look familiar as Leo had said earlier, but he still couldn't remember where he had seen this guy before.

"Wait. Shredder?" Leo asked as he slowly started to recognize the tell-tale signs that this man was indeed Shredder.

"Of course! It all makes sense now!" Donnie exclaimed.

"No it doesn't! The Shredder's dead!" Raph said.

"Wrong turtle! I am ALIVE! That pier merely caused my paralysis, for which I blame you for,"

"That was you Shred-Head! You caused the pier to fall down on top of you after you drank that vial of ooze!" Raph retorted.

"And it was because of you that I drank that ooze! This has done nothing but to speed up my aging process!"

"Doesn't matter whose to blame for your demise, you're going down," Leo said as he drew his katanas.

"Just a minute. I know you want to know what I brought your girlfriend here for, don't you?"

"Let her go!" Leo yelled. Nobody noticed Shredder pressing a control on a little black box on his wheelchair as he commanded Brianna, "I order you to kill the turtles, starting with the blue one!" Brianna quickly walked over to Leo. All of the turtles had been taken by surprise by her obedience at Shredder's command. What had happened to her? She wouldn't really kill Leo would she?

* * *

"Sir, this is Lt. Nitwite reporting," Lt. Nitwite spoke into his cell phone.

"Capt. Carter here, what is it Lt.?"

"Subject 23X has just been ordered to kill the turtles by the leader of the foot. She appears to be under his control somehow. She's really doing a number on one of the turtles,"

"I want those turtles dead or alive. Subject 23X I must have back alive. Keep an eye out. Don't allow her to die,"

"Yes, sir,"

* * *

_Man, she looks so beautiful in that outfit! But why is she wearing such a thing? And why does it appear that she is under Shredder's control? I can not kill her but I can not let her kill me either._ Leonardo thought while Brianna had walked over to him.

"What are you doing?" He asked her.

"I am doing as my master commanded," She replied and then kicked him in the head with her right foot. He landed back on his rear and looked up at her in shock. So it's true. She really is under his control. But how? I must find a way to break the control. He did not have much time to think for she put her foot on his plastron, pinning him to the ground. But not for long, Leo grabbed onto her and threw her back, using the momentum to pick himself up. Brianna was now the one on her rear but did a backwards somersault and was now on her feet. They circled each other for a bit until she rushed at him with full speed. He ducked just in time and her own force and speed sent her flying over him. Thinking quickly she kicked at his knees from behind sending him to land on his face. She then jumped onto his back as he got up and proceeded to try to strangle him with her hands.

For a moment it looked pretty hopeless for Leonardo. Brianna was a lot stronger than he was and had a death grip on his neck. _How do I expect to keep her from killing me? I'm nowhere near as strong as she is. If I don't do something soon, I'm going to lose this battle. Ok so if my brawns don't seem to be working in this situation, I should use my brains, right?_

Leonardo's brothers just stared as Brianna choked the life out of him. They couldn't very well get involved as it was Leo's fight. But how do you know when to let someone fight their own battles and when to get involved to help them?

Shredder laughed while he witnessed this event. Could it be true? Was his dream to finally be rid of the turtles going to come true this time?

* * *

Pulling out his cell phone, Lt. Nitwite called for Capt. Carter to give him an update on the situation.

"Report Lt.," Capt. Carter said.

"It looks as though Subject 23X will have killed that creature in blue any minute now, sir,"

"Excellent. Be sure to back the creature's body. Our scientists will have to dissect it to learn exactly what it is that we're dealing with. Let me know as soon as it's dead,"

"Yes, Sir,"

* * *

Suddenly, Leo ducked his head into his shell. Causing Brianna to lose her death grip and her balance, for she slid right off of him. His brothers let out a sigh of relief and Shredder seemed very disappointed.

Popping out of his shell, Leo tried to reason with Brianna,

"Please, Brianna, you don't want to do this,"

"I must obey my orders," She replied and disappeared. She reappeared a second later right in front of him and kicked him in his plastron. Leo fell on his rear again. Brianna teleported once more and reappeared right on top of him, reclaiming her death grip on him. _I mustn't give up. I can't give up._ Leo thought as she once again began to strangle him.

"Brianna, listen to me!" He said while struggling for air. She said nothing so he spoke again.

"You must listen to me! This isn't like you! You are NOT a killer! Ok? Despite what you and others may think, I do not believe that you are a killer,"

"Not a killer?... No... Yes..." She stuttered. Her grip became a bit looser but still held firm.

"Fight it. You have to fight it. Do you really want to kill me?" Leo choked out.

"Noo... But... I... must... kill... you..."

"No. You don't have to kill me. Fight it. Ok? Fight it,"

"Fight it. I must... fight it.."

"Yes that's right, fight it,"

"III..." She had started to say and then begin shaking. Tears began to fall down her cheeks. She did not want to kill him, but she had to. How could she live with herself if she did kill him? Yet how much longer could she try to fight the inevitable? Summoning up all of her strength, she yelled, "I CANNOT KILL HIM!" She released her grip and collapsed onto the ground, drained of all her energy.

"Looks like your brilliant plan failed again," Raph said.

"Argh. That's what you think, turtle! FOOT, ATTACK! KILL THEM!" Shredder yelled, angry that his plans to have Brianna get rid of the turtles, backfired in his face. Within minutes the foot soldiers were down as they were no match for the turtles.

* * *

_Uh-oh. Capt. Carter is not going to like this. I've gotta do something fast if I want to live to see tomorrow_! Lt. Nitwite thought as he came up with a plan to save Subject 23X. He climbed back into his car and turned on the siren.

* * *

Suddenly a siren was heard. Fearing for their safety, the turtles fled into the shadows and left the foot where they were instead of going after Shredder. Only some of the foot who were conscious fled the scene. Speaking to one of his elite foot members, Shredder commanded him to kill Brianna for her failure.

"Yes, Master Shredder," The solider replied and unsheathed his sword. He walked over to her, raised it, and was about to finish her, when he was interrupted by Lt. Nitwite and his men.

"STOP!" Lt. Nitwite yelled.

"What is the meaning of this?" Shredder asked.

"United States Government," Lt. Nitwite replied as he flashed his badge.

"What do you want?" Shredder asked again.

"That girl belongs to us," He answered.

"She's caused me enough trouble. Go ahead take her,"

"How were you able to get her to almost obey your command?"

"Very easy. I had a microchip attached to the back of her neck. Using this control box it sends electrical impulses to her brain through that microchip,"

"How does 10,000 sound for that control box?"

"I don't know. For what I've suffered because of her, I think I am going to need a bit more than that,"

"15,000"

"15,000 for the control box only. You're gonna have to cough up more if you want the girl too,"

"You just said that we could take her. Plus she belongs to us,"

"Fine then. No deal," Shredder said. He commanded his men to pick Brianna up and to follow him, as he started to wheel away.

"Wait!" Lt. Nitwite yelled as he rushed over to Shredder.

"Yes?"

"Okay, Okay. We'll pay you for girl too,"

"Good. Don't waste my time,"

"15,000 for the control box and 20,000 for the girl. I believe 35,000 is quite a fair price,"

"Very well, hand over the money and you may have this measly control box and the girl," Lt. Nitwite wrote out a check for 35,000 and handed it to Shredder. Shredder looked it over and nodded. He tossed the control box to Lt. Nitwite which he caught. Lt. Nitwite's men picked up Brianna and put her in the car. After he climbed into the driver's seat, Lt. Nitwite called his boss on the cell phone.

"Is the job finished?" Capt. Carter asked.

"Yes, sir. She was unable to kill the creature and they have unfortunately escaped. But we have re-captured the girl and something else that I believe you will find very interesting,"

Lt. Nitwite said as he drove the car back to the base with Brianna slumped over in the backseat, in between Lt. Nitwite's two men.


	11. Too Late

**Disclaimer: **I don't own turtles, splinter, shredder, foot, april, and casey. Everything else is mine!

**Ch. 11 - Too Late**

"I'm going back for her!" Leonardo said as he turned around. The turtles had just barely escaped from their encounter with the foot.

"Are you crazy, Leo? She tried to kill you!" Raph said back. He couldn't believe that Leo, the one who always had his head on his shoulders, was willing to risk his life to go back and try to rescue some girl that almost killed him twice.

"But she didn't! She had an opportunity to kill me and she didn't," Leo pointed out. _I know she came very close to ending my life two times and probably doesn't need someone to rescue her, but I can't just leave her there without even trying. She seemed like she was possessed or something. I know it wasn't really her that she tried to kill me._

"He's right, you know," Donnie added. It was true. They had all seen it for themselves. Brianna could've finished their brother off but she had clearly said that she couldn't do it. _I don't think Leo's in any trouble from her. He appears to have some connection with her that I don't quite understand at this point. It's the government and Shredder that I'm worried about. Who knows what they'll do to him or to the rest of us if they get their hands on him!_

"Come on Raph, this is what we do. Rescue damsels in distress!" Mikey playfully said, trying to ease the tension between his two brothers.

"I still think Leo is crazy for wanting to go back for that psycho girlfriend of his," Raph muttered.

As they neared the warehouse a black car sped away. The windows were tinted so the turtles could not see who was in it. But whoever they were, seemed to be in real big hurry. Thankfully most of the foot were still down when they arrived. Leo snuck up behind Shredder and held his katana to his throat, while his brothers hid behind boxes.

"Let her go!" Leo seethed at Shredder.

"Sorry can't do that," Shredder said.

"And why not?"

"Because I don't have her anymore,"

"What did you do to her?"

"Nothing really. Just handed her over to some government guy," Leo's eyes went wide as he realized what the Shredder had done. He had returned Brianna to the very same people she had just escaped from. The very same people who likely had been torturing her throughout her life. The very same people he had promised to protect her from. He had failed her. Perhaps he could still get her back! He couldn't give up! No! Never give up!

"Who? And why?" Leo asked.

"I believe I'm done playing twenty questions," Leo dug his katana further into the shredder's neck, drawing a little bit of blood.

"Don't make me ask again,"

"Tech. Touchy, touchy, aren't we? I was paid 35,000 for my invention and for her by some guy. He claimed he was from the United States Government. I didn't catch his name," Shredder answered and suddenly rolled his chair back into Leo who lost his grip on his katana. Leo quickly picked up his katana and got away with his brothers right behind him.

* * *

Brianna woke up and was terrified to find out that she was back in the same room that only days ago, had escaped from. How had she ended up back there? She vaguely remembered meeting some guy named Shredder but that was about it. _This cannot be happening! Will I ever learn the meaning of freedom? Am I doomed to remain here and do as they say for the remainder of my days? Is there no hope for me? _In a panic, she got up and started banging on the door.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE! LET ME OUT!" She screamed until her throat was dry. Even then she continued to scream until the door was unlocked and Capt. Carter entered with a little black box. By pressing a few controls, he got her to calm down and sit down on the bed.

"Why Miss Brianna, you must calm yourself," He spoke as he approached her.

"Now listen to me. Do you remember those creatures you were with?" Brianna nodded in reply.

"Good. Now do you recall the one with the blue mask?"

"Yes," She replied.

"Excellent. I order you to bring the one in the blue mask to me. Understood?"

"Yes," She replied again. Capt. Carter had her escorted out of the building.

* * *

"How's he holding up?" April asked them. Leo and Raph had brought Splinter over the night before. They had briefly explained that the government had discovered their home and they were afraid their 'father' would be taken and experimented on when they weren't around. April and Casey had of course agreed to let Splinter stay with them until a new home could be found for them. Hours earlier the turtles had returned and explained everything that had happened. Everyone had tried to cheer Leo up but he refused to let himself be happy. He couldn't stop thinking about how he had failed her. Not even his sensei could comfort him. They had all figured it was best to just let Leo be for awhile and hope that he came out of it on his own.

"Oh, he's the same," Mikey replied not even looking up from the cartoon on TV.

"I'm afraid he's got it bad," Donnie added who was watching cartoons with Mikey.

"Ya don't think?" Mikey asked.

"I do," was Donnie's reply.

"If you guys are thinking what I'm thinking then I agree," said April.

"What are we thinking?" asked Raph who just walked into the room along with Casey.

"Leo's in love!" Mikey and Donnie said together. April and Casey stifled a laugh while Raph just rolled his eyes.

"He's got to get that girl out of his mind! She's the reason why we have to move yet again and must I remind everyone how she attacked him and me earlier!" Raph angrily said.

"Aw cheer up dome head, just cuz you've never been in love is no reason to be such a sour puss about it," Casey said.

"Well I'm never gonna be in love," Raph said as the others laughed at him. Leo walked in next dressed in his trench coat and fedora.

"My son, where are you going?" Splinter asked as he looked up from the lazy-boy recliner chair.

"It is dark now, Sensei. I thought I'd go up on the roof to meditate," Leo answered.

"A wise decision. I hope you are able to find some peace," Splinter said before Leo walked out.

* * *

Leo climbed the fire-escape all the way to the top. He looked over the city for a few moments before finally sitting down. _What do I do now? The government's got her again. None of us know where they took her. So how can I possibly hope to rescue her if I don't even know where to look? It's all my fault she was even captured in the first place. Maybe if I had insisted that she stay with us, then she wouldn't been attacked by the foot and gained their attention. They would've never kidnapped her and Shredder wouldn't have sold her to the government. Or maybe if I had just stayed closer to her side and kept an eye out for her during the attack instead of assuming she could handle herself, then she wouldn't have been drugged off and I wouldn't have been knocked out, powerless to save her. At least I was able to talk some sense into her last night when she tried to kill me. She was not herself. Her eyes had this eerie look to them. Like there wasn't anything there. As if she was just some machine being used. I know Raph thinks I should've fought back with all my strength, considering how strong she is, but I just couldn't bring myself to cause her real harm. And why not? She did try to kill me. Hell, a few nights ago she tried to kill all of us starting with Raph. Why did I even attempt to talk to her instead of attacking? Wait. Is it possible? Is what I'm feeling for her the real deal? Do I honestly love her? Yes. I think I do. I am in love with Brianna._

Thud. Leo turned at the sound and was surprised that it was Brianna on the roof next door. He had to tell her how he felt. It was the honest and noble thing to do after all.

"Brianna! I am glad that you have escaped. There is something very important I must tell you," He said to her. She appeared not to hear him or maybe she didn't care. For she quickly turned and started walking away from him. There was no way that Leo was just going to let her go like that. He had to tell her the truth. She deserved to know. Plus he got the feeling that something was going on with her and he wanted to know what it was. So he followed suit. The two started jumping across roof tops for a couple of blocks before finally climbing down into a dark alleyway. As soon as his feet touched the ground he felt a shock enter throughout his whole body and then he fell to the ground. His whole body was paralyzed. All he could do was to look to see what was going on. He saw men pick him up and throw him into the back of a van of some kind. They then stopped to talk to Brianna for a bit. He could barely hear their conversation but what he did hear really puzzled him.

"Good work... leave this note... understood?" One of them said in a commanding voice.

"Yes," was Brianna's reply and she headed back in the same direction that she had come. This was unbelievable! She had tricked him into following her so that they could nab him. But why?

* * *

"Master Splinter, hasn't Leo been gone for an awfully long time?" Donnie asked. He was very worried about his oldest brother. Leo never went out by himself for this long. It would be day soon and Leo was very cautious not to be outside during the day.

"Yes my son. But do not worry. It is not day yet. Give him time to find peace and come back to us," Splinter wisely replied. He too was becoming increasingly worried about his eldest son. Though he knew that Leo was greatly troubled by this girl. He even suspected that he loved her. He could only hope that his son would realize this for himself soon. There also wasn't anything he or his other sons could do at this moment.

"If he's still thinking about the psycho girl, I'm gonna deck him," Raph commented.

"Raphael! You'll do no such thing," Splinter reprimanded.

April came down in her work outfit and said good-bye to each of her guests before heading out the door. Splinter and his adopted sons became very worried when they saw April return a second later with a paper in her hand.

"You guys have to read this. It's for you," She said as she handed Donnie, since he was the closest to her, the note.

"What does it say?" Mikey asked.

"It's about Leo," Donnie answered.

"Is it something good? It's not good, is it?" Mikey said as he hoped that his big brother wasn't in some kind of trouble.

"Tell us what it says my son," Splinter said.

"Dear creatures,

If you ever want to see the one in the blue bandanna again, you will meet us at 9pm down by the old alleyway behind Mark's Groceries. If you fail to show, the captured creature will be terminated and then dissected within 24hrs," Donnie read.


	12. Love is Blind

**Disclaimer: **Do I really have to say this _again_? Ya'll know the drill, right? Great. Ok. On with the story!

**Ch. 12 - Love is Blind**

"I bet you anything that girl has something to do with Leo's capture," Raph sneered.

"The note didn't say anything about Brianna," Mikey pointed out.

"Raph has a point," Donnie said.

"He does?" Mikey asked as he tried to duck from his brother's headlock but failed. Soon the two were wrestling on the ground.

"Michelangelo! Raphael! Enough!" Splinter yelled out while tapping his cane on the floor. The two brothers got off of each other but anyone could tell that they weren't done picking on each other.

"I've really got to go to work but I want to hear why Donnie thinks Raph has a point," April said. She was over 30 minutes late and would've only been about 20 minutes late had it not been for that note stuck to her front door.

"Judging from certain words used, I believe the government has Leo. Since they are after Brianna and considering how close those two have become, the only logical assumption is that she's involved somehow. However I don't think that she's responsible for his capture,"

"Ah, I see. Well I really hope you guys get Leo back," April said as left for work.

"I suggest you three prepare for tonight. I fear this new 'enemy' is a much bigger threat than Shredder ever was," Splinter said to his sons.

* * *

Leo had wanted to stay awake and alert but his captors had other plans. As soon as Brianna returned, one of them climbed into the back of the van and injected him with some kind of drug. Still under the effects of the stun gun, he had been unable to resist or to fight back. First his vision went blurry then there was nothing. He could only hope that his brothers would not get captured.

* * *

"Aren't you going to take it with you when you go to capture the others?" Lt. Nitwite asked Capt. Carter, referring to the huge turtle-like creature on the gurney table that Dana and her assistant were examining.

"No. As long as those other creatures meet us tonight, that's all that matters. I don't intend to return the one we have now. Least not alive," was Carter's reply. Lt. Nitwite nodded his head in understanding. There was a lot their scientists could learn from this turtle. And it would take time for them to complete all their experiments and examinations.

"What have you discovered so far from this creature?" Capt. Carter asked Dana, the head scientist in charge of the turtle project.

"The creature is a male and has three digits on his hands and feet. We took a blood sample among other things. We'll know more as soon as the results come back from the lab," She answered.

* * *

"Well here we are," Donnie said when they arrived at the designated alleyway. They had practiced, slept, and meditated during the day. They were both physically and mentally prepared to handle this new 'enemy'. At least that's what they thought until they all felt the sting from a stun gun.

"What the shell is going on?" Raph asked as he went down and found he couldn't get up. He looked over at his brothers and saw that they were in the same predicament.

"We're going to reunite you with the other one," A man's voice said as the turtles were put into a van and drugged like Leo had been.

* * *

"I have one more task for you to do," Capt. Carter said to Brianna. She nodded without even looking up.

"I order you to test your abilities on those turtles. Now follow me," He instructed as he lead her into the room where the turtles were being held.

* * *

"Gawd, my head hurts. Oh! Hey, LEO!" Mikey said as he noticed that Leo was with them.

"Welcome back Mikey," Leo said as he smiled. Mikey was the last one awake but the others had only just awoken a few minutes before. Leo had been going out of his way to prove to his brothers that he was fine. Truth was that he hurt in the worst places imagined. He didn't feel that his younger brothers should hear about the little 'examination' he went through.

Just then the door was open and Capt. Carter and Brianna walked through. He whispered something to her and quickly shut the door before the turtles could react. Leo was the first to jump up and run over to Brianna. Mikey soon followed as he was glad to see her too. Raph just glared and Donnie stayed right where he was.

"Are you okay? Have they hurt you?" Leo asked her. She didn't seem to hear him for she just stood there. A moment later she threw both brothers clear across the room. Raph charged at her but she used her teleportation and got out of his way in the blink of an eye. So he crashed into the wall with full force. She reappeared behind Donnie and kicked his legs out from under him, causing him to fall on his face. She then teleported back over to Leo who once again tried to reason with her.

"Brianna! Please listen to me! We are your friends! We did not wish to hurt you! Why are you attacking us?" She continued to attack him as he tried to defend himself. Raph soon got up and rushed over to help Leo.

"I told you she'd betray us and she did!" Raph said as ducked from the punches that she threw at him.

"No! I don't believe it!" Leo cried out. Brianna quickly jumped out and kicked Leo and Raph in the gut, sending them down to the ground.

"You've got to believe it!" Raph said back. He was getting quite irritated with his brother. The only reason they had even been found out by the government was because of her. They had tracked her to their home and planted a little tiny camera so they could watch them. When they found out about the four large walking turtles, they decided to exploit them for their own hidden purposes. And they had used Brianna to get them! It was so obvious what she had done to them, not to mention the fact that she had attacked them before and had tried to kill Leo twice the night before! Now here she was attacking them yet again! Why couldn't Leo see what was in front of his face? Oh yea, right. He's in love with her. Just the thought of those two made him sick.

"It's not true!" Leo responded. Leo and Raph were too busy fighting with each other and Mikey was busy trying to keep them apart and distract Brianna that only Donnie noticed the silvery glare from her neck. _What the heck is that? _He focused his attention on it and saw that it appeared to be some electronic device of some kind. _Is that what caused her to attack Leo and almost kill him at Shredder's hideout? And what made her trick Leo into getting caught and thereby getting the rest of us caught? And also why she's attacking us right now? Hmm.. I wonder. _Donnie rushed over to her right as she about to execute a deadly blow against Leo. He yanked off the electronic chip as fast as he could. She screeched out in pain and collapsed to the floor. The other three turtles turned to look at their brother in shock. What had he just done? Here they were fighting for their lives and he had simply put his hand on her neck and she was out?

* * *

"Damn that turtle to hell!" Capt. Carter shouted. He, Lt. Nitwite, and Dana had been observing the fight through the looking-glass mirror. Apparently the purple one was pretty smart. He had been the only one to discover the little device on her neck used to control her. None of the others had.

"I think the purple one would be a better choice for dissection. We could discover what makes that mere turtle so smart," Dana said thoughtfully.

"Yes perhaps you are right," Carter agreed. He excused Dana and Lt. Nitwite to get everything set up for the procedure. The turtles and Brianna would be alright. The door was heavily secured and there was no way out for them so he left himself to go report to the Commander.

* * *

"She's coming to!" Mikey excitedly called out. Leo, of course, had been the one to rush over to her and had laid her head in his lap. He had been trying to get her to wake up for 15 minutes now. Mikey had been pacing around the room occasionally checking on her to see if she had awoken yet.

"Finally! Now maybe we can get some answers!" Raph said.

"Back off Raph. Give her some space," said Leo.

"No! I warned everyone that she was a threat to us and I was right! Now I want some answers and she's gonna give them to me!"

"She is NOT a threat! And I TOLD you to BACK OFF!" He said as he glared at his brother.

"You know what your problem is Leo? You're too blinded by love to see what is right in front of your face!"

"What's going on?" Brianna asked.

"That's what I'd like to know!" Raph yelled.

"Never mind him. What's the last thing you remember?" Leo asked her as he brushed the hair out of her face.

"I remember those men attacking us in your home. I remember going with you and April back to her place. I remember the foot attacking and I remember getting shot with something. I think it was a tranquilizer," She answered.

"What about after? Do you remember what happened next?" Mikey asked as he sat down next to them, eager to hear why she had been acting funny lately.

"I woke up in this room. I think it was a lab of some kind. I was strapped onto some table so I couldn't escape. This man calling himself Shredder and some scientist named Thomas walked in and he told me that he was going to use me to get rid of you guys!" She started to cry when the memories of what Shredder had done to her and what she had done to them slowly started coming back to her. Leo just held her and let her cry onto his shoulder. Donnie had also joined them and was eager to hear more. Raph was still angry and wouldn't sit still. He started attacking invisible enemies.

"Go on. What happened next?" Donnie asked.

"I told him that I wouldn't do it and he said it didn't matter. Thomas had invented a small microchip that could be used to make me do Shredder's bidding. Shredder than showed me this little control box and that whoever controlled was in charge of me. He then had Thomas put the chip in me. I tried to fight it! I really did!" She cried.

"It's okay. It wasn't your fault," He soothingly said.

"I vaguely remember the things I did while under the control of that chip. Oh god! I'm so sorry! I never meant to try to kill you! I never wanted to hurt you or your brothers! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" She apologized as she cried even more.

"It's okay. I forgive you," He whispered in her and started to rock her to try to calm her. She looked over at Donnie and remembered how he was going to find out how to make her normal. There was no question about it now. She just had to be made normal. It was the only way to stop this madness! The only way everyone would leave her alone and let her live her life.

"Donnie you've got to make me normal! Get rid of these abilities! All they do is cause people harm! Please help me fix the damage that I've done! Make sure that I can never cause this kind of damage ever again! Please help me," She pleaded. Donnie wished he could help her, but he couldn't. It just couldn't be done.

"I'm very sorry Brianna. There's nothing I can do. Whatever the government did to you is irreversible," He told her.

"Nooo!" She sobbed. She was doomed to live out the rest of her life as a freak. She could never have any kind of a normal life. Not with the government still interested in her.


	13. Murder

**Disclaimer: **I don't own turtles!

**WARNING: **This chapter contains language and violence! Though it is mostly violence and a death scene (not a gory one mind you). I don't believe this chapter warrants an R rating so I am keeping it in the PG-13 section. If I am wrong about the rating then just let me know. Thanks.

**Ch. 13 - Murder**

"Is everything set up?" asked Carter.

"We're all ready to go," Dana replied. She had examined the blue bandana turtle hours ago, but had not examined the other three. As soon as the turtles had arrived, they'd been locked inside a room so Carter could test Brianna's chip again. It was necessary to examine the others, to learn if they were all the same or not. It would also be good to know if there was a female among them. Plus she'd need samples of their blood, skin, among other things to compare with the first one.

"I want you to take another look at subject 23X's chip. I think it might be malfunctioning. We can not afford to have that mentally unstable woman running around with no way to control her," Carter added. The chip malfunction was what the commander had suggested after hearing about Brianna's pathetic defeat.

"Before or after I examine the freaks?" She asked.

"Before. Have your assistants start on those freaks while you just take a quick look at the chip to determine how to fix it,"

"Yes, Sir,"

"Get Lt. Nitwite and those guards. It's time to round up our guests,"

* * *

"I did find out how you got to be here," Donnie said. He couldn't reverse what those monsters had done to her but he could let her know about how it had all began.

"What?" She asked between tears.

"Your mom was a Dominique Jacques and was born in France. She has one sister there, a Marie Jacques. Her sister has a daughter that's about your age.

Anyway, at the age of three, you mom was kidnapped and sold to a couple here in the U.S. That's when her name changed to Katharine Dunn. When she was 17 she joined the military. Sometime after that, a secret branch of the government decided to use her in their experiment to create the ultimate human fighting weapon. She agreed and soon after you was born. She signed away all her rights to you and you were then taken by them." He started to say.

"This is my mom's fault? Didn't she even love me?" She asked.

"Well that's one way of looking at it, but that's not the whole story. See when you were six, your mom tried to take you back after she'd realized what she'd done. Shortly after she was killed," Brianna started to cry again when she found out that in the end her mom had loved her. But those bastards had murdered her!

"Your father is a Bradley Jones. He was also serving in the military and was used by them to help your mom out with the experiment.

He was transferred to California before you were born so he probably doesn't even know about you. He retired from the military soon after marrying Elizabeth Imatean. They have three kids together," Donnie told her.

"That's a great sob story, Don. But I still think she's a threat. Especially after what she's done to us," Raph pointed out. How could any of them trust her? She had after all tricked Leo into getting caught and thereby getting the rest of them caught.

"I don't think we have to worry about that," Donnie said while holding up the microchip he had pulled off her neck.

"What is that?" Mikey asked.

"It's some kind of mind-controlling device. I pulled it off of Brianna's neck. It's probably what caused her to listen to Shredder when he told her to kill Leo. And why she helped the government to capture us and attacked us earlier," Donnie answered.

"So what are you saying?" asked Leo.

"Shredder and the government used her to get to us. They were controlling her! It wasn't really her that did all of that stuff. It was them,"

"Is that what really happened?" She asked.

"Yes. I'm so sorry about what they did to you. They can't control you anymore," Donnie assured her.

Before anyone else could react, Carter, Nitwite, Dana and some security guards burst through the door.

"Alright round 'em up," Carter instructed. Brianna looked up at them and shot them a look that could've killed superman. She was still reeling from everything that she'd learned and to have those responsible for all her pain in the same room with her was just too much for her. They'd put her through hell and there was no way they were getting a second chance. She teleported in front of the three in charge. In one kick she sent them back. Dana stayed on the floor watching Brianna wail on Carter and Nitwite. Those two had expertise in combat but Brianna was faster and stronger than the two of them put together. The turtles took this opportunity to take down the security guards.

During the chaos, Dana tried to run to the exit but Raph blocked the door.

"Uh uh lady," He told her when she tried to get past him.

Nitwite ran at Brianna, determined to knock her down with his body. She saw it coming and grabbed onto his wrist, twisting it and threw him over her shoulder like he weighed nothing. There was a nasty cracking sound as he landed wrong on his arm. Carter came at her next, mightily pissed that he was getting beat by a girl. Even though he knew she could take on at least five of him. She latched onto his head and twisted it. His lifeless body slumped to the ground in a heap. The turtles looked over at her when they heard the sickening sound of Carter's neck snapping in two. She turned her attention over to Nitwite who was on the floor, cradling his arm. With a murderous intention she made her way to him.

"Brianna! No! Stop! Think about what you're doing!" Leo yelled to her and tried to stop her. She pushed past him and grabbed the guy's leg. Then she broke his leg. Nitwite cried out in agony and pleaded for his life. This time Leo, Donnie, and Mikey came between her and Nitwite. Raph was still guarding the only exit, plus he did not feel like getting thrown around by Brianna.

"Stop this! You defeated them. It isn't necessary to cause them anymore harm," Leo said as he grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.

"Snap out of it babe," Mikey added.

"I think we can escape if we leave right now," Said Donnie. Somehow they managed to get her out of there before she could kill Nitwite. Raph knocked Dana out before leaving to give them more time to escape. They weren't worried about Nitwite getting out seeing as he had both a broken arm and a broken leg. He was too busy thinking about all the pain he was in to even think about trying to get up to set off an alarm. They ran down the corridors using their ninja stealth to avoid being seen by the cameras, for a good five minutes before stopping.

"So just how in the shell are we supposed to escape? Even if we do get out, they'll just track us down and capture us again!" Raph stated.

"Donnie, where would they keep the proof that we exist?" Leo asked, for he too had been pondering the same thought as Raph.

"There's the surveillance room with the footage from the camera that was in our lair and the lab with your test results in it," He answered.

"Watcha thinking Leo?" asked Mikey.

"If they can't prove that we exist, then who's gonna fund all the money they're going to need to find us and carry on with all their little projects?" Leo replied.

"Huh?" asked a confused Mikey.

"He said destroy the proof they have on us and we'll be safe," Raph explained.

"Oh! So how do we do that?"

"Well, I haven't quite figured that part out yet,"

"Blow it up," Brianna said.

"Right and where are we gonna get the explosives to do that?" Raph asked.

"There's some dynamite in the explosives room," She answered.

"Alright so where is this explosives room and how are we supposed to set it off?" He asked her.

"Take the elevator down the hall to Floor 1A. When you come out, take a right and then take the third left. It'll be the second door to your right. Carter smokes pipes so I'm sure he has some matches in his office, which is on the second floor," She replied. She had lived here her whole life so she knew the layout of this building like the back of her hand.

"Wait, we can't just blow up the building up. What about all the people in it?" Leo asked.

"Screw them," She said.

"I never thought I'd say this but I agree with Brianna," Raph said.

"I think I've got an idea," Donnie thoughtfully said.

"What is it?" asked Mikey.

"Ok, Raph and I will go down to get the explosives and set those up. Leo and Brianna will go to Carter's office to get the matches. Since Mikey is good at imitating people, he will go with them. On the PA system he will pretend to be Carter and order everyone to evacuate and meet out at the front gates as part of an emergency evacuation drill. We will go out at the back where we will set off the dynamite. Building will be destroyed but the people saved," He explained. Everyone agreed that that was the best thing to do so they all set up and went their ways.

* * *

"K Mikey do your stuff," Leo told him as they entered Carter's office. Mikey cracked his knuckles and turned on the PA system. And in a Carter sounding voice he said, "Attention! Attention Everyone! This is Captain Carter speaking. We are now going to practice an Emergency Evacuation. Everyone please exit the building now and assemble at the front gate. Again exit the building pronto and meet at the front gate!" He then switched off the PA.

"Well?" He asked.

"Nicely done," Leo said. Brianna agreed and the three grabbed a couple boxes of matches and headed out.

* * *

"Wow," Raph commented when he and Donnie walked into the explosives room to find dynamite piled high throughout the tiny room.

"Boy they sure do keep a nice supply," Donnie remarked.

"I'll say. So how much do you think we'll need to demolish this place?"

"Well calculating the structure of this building, where we'll set them off and –" Donnie started to say before Raph cut him off.

"Aw shell just grab that big box over there and I'll grab this one," Raph really didn't want to listen to his genius brother go into all the boring math detail of approximately how much dynamite they would need. He figured if they had two big boxes it should bring down the building with a huge explosion. The two turtles left the room and went towards the exit at the back of the building to meet up with the other three.

* * *

"Hey Leo, how long do you think it'll take for them to get out here?" Mikey asked his older brother. He, Leo, and Brianna had gotten out a few minutes before and were now waiting for Raph and Donnie to come out with the dynamite.

"They should be here soon," After another minute or so Brianna saw the two come out with two huge boxes marked 'Danger: Explosives'.

"There they are!" She pointed out.

"Bout time you got here," Mikey teased them.

"Next time you carry a ton of dynamite," Raph snorted back as he put down the box of dynamite. The five then got to work placing the dynamite around the building. They made sure they were careful not to be spotted by any of the employees out by the front gate. After that was done, they each grabbed some matches and quickly went around lighting the dynamite. Then they all made a mad dash to get behind the bushes and the trees. In just a few seconds, there was a huge explosion as the building used for unethical experiments (disguised as a military base), went up in flames.

* * *

"Someone call 911!" Several voices from the front gate yelled when they witnessed the building being consumed by fire. Leo and Brianna peered out from behind a bush and were satisfied to see that they were all safe. They hugged each other overcome with joy that they had succeeded. Mikey whistled when he saw them, causing them to pull away. Raph and Donnie came out next and the turtles all gave each other Hi-three's. During their little celebration they heard the sirens on the fire trucks approaching so all five quickly ran to April's apartment with Brianna and Leo leading the way. 


	14. Why?

**Disclaimer: **Once again I don't own any turtles, rats, shredder, foot clan, reporters or casey. All I own is this story, Brianna, and all other characters in it. 

**Chapter 14 – Why?**

"So you guys saved the day once again, huh?" April asked after hearing about what had happened. The turtles and Brianna returned two nights after they were captured. The turtles were in a good mood, excitedly chatting about how the building exploded, especially Raph. Donnie told April and Splinter the more technical part of the adventure. Mikey agreed with Raph on how cool the building looked when it was going down. Brianna hadn't said a word. She just plopped herself on the far side of the couch, staring at nothing.

"I am proud of all of you tonight," Splinter said, "Leo; you showed compassion when you found a way to save some of those people –"Raph rolled his eyes upon hearing this. _Yea, we should've let them all burn! But instead, oh fearless leader just had to go save their loser behinds!_

"Why do you think that, Raphael?" Splinter asked.

"Who's to say, they won't try to capture us again? The ones in charge are gone but that doesn't mean someone from one of the lower ranks won't get some bright idea about us," He answered.

"There is no way to know if any of them would have the kind of thoughts that you suggest. But it is not right to mass murder a group of people simply because one fears retaliation. Life is very precious. It is not for us to decide who dies and who lives.

I hope that you will remember this, Raphael. However I am proud of your quick thinking tonight. It was that quick thinking that lead to yours, your brothers', and Miss Brianna's escape,"

"You say you're proud of us, including me! Yet you don't condone murder!" Brianna asked as she looked over from her position on the couch. There was dead silence for but a moment as everyone turned to look at her since it was the first thing she'd said upon returning.

"Yes I am proud of you. I am proud of the fact that you helped my sons to escape. I am also grateful to you because of that. I do believe that life is scared and that we should not play God with other people's lives. But sometimes it is necessary that a few men die in order to save many men," Splinter said.

"Master Splinter's right. We wouldn't have gotten out of there without your help. That Capt. Carter and Lt. Nitwite never would've let us go and even if we had managed to escape, there's no doubt in my mind that they would've stopped at nothing to get us back. You only did what you had to do," Leo assured her.

"Only did what I had to do? I killed tonight! And I would've kept on killing if you hadn't stopped me," She countered.

"True but you killed an evil man," Leo responded.

"Yea, it's not like you killed the pope or something," Mikey added, trying to put a smile on her face. This worked for a fraction of a second.

"And technically you didn't kill Nitwite. You just knocked him out. The explosion killed him," Donnie reminded.

"Yea but I'm still a cold-blooded murderer,"

"Miss Brianna, you are not a cold-blooded murderer. You are greater than that. I sense you have trouble controlling your emotions like my son, Raphael –"Splinter started to say.

"Hey! I can control my –"Whack! Splinter's cane hit the top of Raph's head. He rubbed his head and allowed Splinter to finish what he was saying.

"- So I suggest that you spend some time mediating alone on the roof to clear your head. Only then will you find some peace in your soul," Splinter finished. Brianna nodded and made her way to the roof.

"Do you think she'll find what she's looking for?" Leo asked Splinter.

"I sincerely hope so for all our sakes,"

* * *

-Flashback-

"You're nothing. You're merely an object for people like me to use. So stop fooling around and do what you are told!" Capt. Carter yelled at Brianna. Brianna nodded her head without ever looking up at him. It wasn't that she was afraid of him. It was that she loathed him and was afraid of killing him if she looked at him. She longed for the day when she could give the Captain a piece of her mind.

End Flashback-

_I did want to kill Carter. I wanted to kill them for treating me like an object all those years, for trying to make me kill the turtles, for making me help kidnap the turtles, for what they did to my mother, and for Dr. Madison. Who wouldn't want to kill them? All my life I've been trained to fight and kill. That was my life. Until I happened to see an episode of 'Charmed'. That's when I realized that there was more to life than just fighting and death. I started to draw the floor plan of the building in my head, knowing that I would need to know my way around if I were ever going to escape. I made quite a few failed escape attempts, never getting past the gate. All of which earned me a harsh punishment. Once I finally do succeed at escaping, I come across four mutant turtles, a mutant rat, a reporter and her boyfriend. Then I am kidnapped by their nemesis and controlled by some implant chip. I attacked the turtles and am then taken back to that place where I helped capture the turtles and once again attack them. At last the implant chip is removed and I am allowed to think and act on my own. Only then do I learn the truth about my parents. Not the bullshit lies Carter told me years ago. Next thing I know there's Carter. All I could think about was all the lies that I had been told and how he had been using me. So I killed him just like I had been taught to do all my life. So why do I regret doing it? He did deserve to die. So did Nitwite. No doubt about it. The world is a better place without them._

Brianna had been sitting on the roof thinking about her life and the recent events for several hours now. She had completely lost track of the time and had no idea that one turtle was especially concerned about her. She had gotten so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't even hear that same turtle come up behind her until he spoke.

"Beautiful night, isn't it?" Brianna jumped and whirled around, her fist up and about to punch whoever it was in the face. Leonardo caught the punch mid-air.

"Oh! Leo! Hi! Sorry about that," She exclaimed when she realized that it had been Leo who'd surprised her and not some would be attacker.

"It's alright. It's my fault. I shouldn't have scared you like that. I just. . . just. . . just wanted to. . . tell you. . . that I. . . umm. . . that I. . . love you," Leo stuttered out.

"Woo wait. You love me?"

"Yes. I thought you deserved to know that you're loved,"

"My mother loved me,"

"Yes I know, but I was thinking you needed to know that someone else who's alive loved you. Does love you,"

"So do you really love me or are you just saying that because you think that's what I need to hear?" She asked.

"No. I mean yes. I mean I really do love you, Brianna. And I was kind of hoping you'd be ready to admit your feelings,"

"I do like you. You're a nice friend, but –"What on earth was that turtle thinking? Insisting that she had feelings for him? Did she have feelings for him?

"Look, just ask yourself this one question. If you don't love me then why were you unable to kill me when you had the chance? You had more than one chance. And each time, you failed to kill me. Why is that?"

"I. . . I . . . I . . . I don't know. Just please go away. I need to think. I can't focus,"

Leonardo sighed and went back inside. _Why didn't I kill him? I was being controlled by that mind-control device. I did everything else I was told, except for killing Leonardo. Maybe I do love him? Maybe love was the only thing powerful enough to overcome the mind-control device?_

_What am I gonna do with my life now? Go live like a normal person in New York City? Go be with Leonardo? Find my real family?_


	15. Goodbye, but not Farewell

**Author's notes: **ok here it is. The last chapter of this story. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **remember I don't own tmnt or anything tmnt related. But everything else is mine!

**Chapter 15 – Goodbye but not farewell**

"Well, how'd it go, Leo? Did she tell you that she loves you?" Mikey asked when he saw his eldest brother return.

"No," Leo said as he sank down on the couch and put his head in his hands.

"Uh oh, bro what happened?" Mikey asked, taking a seat next to his brother. Raph and Don took a step closer as they were very curious to learn what she had said.

"I told her, I love her, just like all of you told me to. I asked her how she felt; because I know she loves me too. But I don't think she was ready. She just told me to go away,"

"Aww bro, I'm sorry," Mikey said.

"Love is not always easy to express, my son," Splinter said as he came into the room.

"Master Splinter, what if I screwed it up? What if –"

"Leonardo. If you and Brianna are meant to be, it will be. It may take time, but it will be worth it in the end,"

"Yes I know, but I wish she'd give me a second chance to tell her. Maybe if I hadn't been so demanding –"

"Here's your second chance," Raph said. All in the room looked up to see Brianna standing there.

"How long have you been there?"

"Long enough. I've come to a decision,"

"And what's that?" Raph asked.

"I'm going to France,"

"Paris? Ooo la la," Mikey said.

"But why?" Leo asked.

"My mother's sister lives there. And that's where my mother is from, right Don?"

"Yes,"

"That still doesn't explain why you have to go," Leo said.

"For three reasons. One, I need to learn about where I came from. It's the only way I can move on with my life. Two, I want to be in a place free from Shredder and his goons. As long as I stay here with you, there's always a chance that I'll be kidnapped again. And three, I would like to live a normal life without all the fighting and death,"

"I understand all of that. I can keep you safe here. I wouldn't make you fight-"

"You don't understand. Leo, I need to go. I promise to keep in touch. But I can't stay here waiting for the next attack,"

"But I love you,"

"I know, but I need to experience life outside. I will miss you dearly. All of you," She said as she looked at everyone in the room, "I need to do this and I hope all of you will support my decision," Next; she leaned over to Leo and whispered something that only he heard. Leo nodded his head and said, "Yes, we'll support you,"

"Of course we will!" Mikey added. Raph and Don also agreed. Brianna thanked them and went upstairs to sleep.

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this?" April asked as she pulled her car into a parking spot at the airport.

Flashback-

"April? You ready to go? My flight leaves in a few hours," Brianna called out. Thanks to April's help, she was able to get a one-way ticket to Paris, France. April had promised Leo that she would make sure that Brianna got off safely. Leo wanted to do it himself, but since her flight departed at 12:05 in the afternoon, he couldn't take that risk of exposing himself. Especially so soon after they had blown up that building. Now as Brianna walked through the apartment, it seemed as if she was the only one there. _Hmm. That's strange. April's supposed to be here and I thought for sure Leo would at least be here to see me one last time._

"SURPRISE!" Everyone yelled as they jumped out from their hiding spots.

"What? What are you guys doing?" Brianna asked them.

"It's a going away party, babe!" Mikey excitedly said.

"But why?"

"I couldn't let you leave without saying goodbye properly," April answered.

"Yea, besides I love parties! Where's the food, sweet cakes?" Casey said.

"It's coming," April replied and went into the kitchen.

Splinter took a seat on April's armchair while he observed all that was taking place. Casey and Don were trying to fix the boom box. Leo and Brianna where sitting on the couch, whispering to each other. And Mikey was trying to get Raph to wear a party hat. Splinter smiled as he looked upon his eldest son. He had never seen him so happy before.

"Okay, who wants some food?" April asked while she brought out the party food. This consisted of chips, dip, popcorn, and of course pizza. Mikey, Raph, and Casey all dove towards the food. Don, Leo, and Brianna gathered around the food and started eating after the way had been cleared. April and Casey were chatting amongst themselves, Mikey, Raph, and Don were messing around with the party hats, and Leo and Brianna were sitting on the couch as they ate the food.

Almost a quarter of an hour passed away before someone spoke up, "Thank you for the party everyone, but I need to get going," Brianna said.

"Wait! You can't leave without the party gifts!" Mikey exclaimed and ran over to retrieve a duffle bag from behind a chair. He put set it on the couch and started pulling things out of it. The first thing he pulled out was a game-boy advance with a few games to go with it.

"This is from me. So incase you get bored on the plane or in Paris, you can play some good quality games," Mikey explained as he handed the game to her. The second thing he pulled out was a book on meditation.

"That child is my gift to you. Please study it well," Splinter said.

"I will," Brianna promised. Next, Mikey pulled out a video on kick-boxing.

"So you won't forget how to kick ass, seeing as you're so damn good at it," Raph explained about his gift. The last thing Mikey pulled out was some clothes.

"I figured you'd need more clothes so you wouldn't have to wear the same outfit that you've been wearing," April said.

"I gotcha that duffle bag to put everything in," Casey said.

"Hey Don, Leo, you guys get her anything?" Mikey asked, trying to see if there was anything left in the bag but there wasn't.

"Yea," They said together. Donnie handed Brianna a small shoe box. She opened it up to find a map and a couple addresses listed.

"I did some more research and found out exactly where your Aunt and cousin are. I wrote down where they live and work so you'll be able to find them. I also included a map so you won't get lost," He said.

"Guess that leaves me," Leo said as he reached behind the couch and retrieved a small blue velvet box. He opened it to reveal a gold heart necklace with three sparkling diamonds on one side of the heart.

"Oh my, Leo, it's beautiful," Brianna gasped. She allowed Leo to put the necklace on her.

"I wanted to show you how much I love you and give you something to remember me by," Leo said after he finished with the necklace. Brianna went around and hugged everyone as they said their goodbyes. Then she put all her gifts back into the duffle bag and started to follow April out the door. At the last second she ran back to hug Leo one last time and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving.

End Flashback-

"Brianna?" April asked.

"Huh? Oh yea I'm sure," Brianna answered as she grabbed the duffle bag and got out of the car. The two of them walked into the airport and Brianna started to go through the gate. April took a seat and watched as the airport security had Brianna walk through the metal detector and searched her bag for weapons and stuff like that. After she saw her go through the gate and get on the plane, April stood up to leave. She waited a few more moments to see the plane take off. As it did so, she turned to leave. Her promise to Leo had been kept.

* * *

No one noticed the figure hiding in the alleyway near a manhole cover, watching a plane take off. _Goodbye Brianna. I'll always love you no matter what._ And with that Leo climbed back down into the sewers to get home before his sensei noticed he was missing.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Yea! I finished re-writing this story so now on with the sequel! Thanks a billion to everyone who's read and/or reviewed this story! 


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